A group of Minnesota high school softball players is suing Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), alleging that the state’s transgender athlete policy violates federal law and harms female athletes.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a national legal organization, filed the federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of Female Athletes United (FAU), a group of Minnesota girls who say they have been forced to compete against a biologically male athlete in high school softball.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, claims the state’s current policy allowing males to compete in girls’ sports is discriminatory and violates Title IX, the federal law requiring equal opportunities for women in education, including athletics.
“Minnesota is failing its female athletes. The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety,” said ADF Legal Counsel Suzanne Beecher in a statement. “By sacrificing protection for female athletes, Minnesota fails to offer girls equal treatment and opportunity, violating Title IX’s provisions.”
The lawsuit also names Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero, Education Commissioner Willie Jett, and the Anoka-Hennepin, Farmington, and Osseo school boards as defendants.
Three high school athletes outline their experiences
According to the complaint, three FAU members—two juniors and one sophomore—have been directly impacted by the policy.
One junior has competed in varsity softball for two years and lost multiple games to a male athlete, including a key sectional game that kept her team from advancing to the state tournament. In a regular season rematch this year, the male athlete pitched seven strikeouts and held her team scoreless.
Another junior, a standout pitcher already committed to play collegiate softball, left a club team after learning she would have to compete against the same male athlete for pitching time. She now expects to face the athlete at the state tournament this season.
The third plaintiff, a sophomore, was hit by a pitch from the male athlete during a club softball game. The suit alleges that due to the increased speed and strength of the pitch, the pain she experienced was significantly worse than previous injuries from pitches thrown by female players.
Alpha News previously reported on Champlin Park pitcher
Although the lawsuit does not name the athlete in question, Alpha News previously reported on Marissa Rothenberger, a junior pitcher at Champlin Park High School who recently struck out seven batters and allowed just one hit over seven innings against Maple Grove earlier this season—marking the Crimson’s first scoreless game of the year.
According to court documents in a Reduxx report, Rothenberger’s legal name and sex were changed in 2017, when a Hennepin County judge approved a petition to amend the birth certificate from “Charlie Dean” to “Marissa” and designate the change of sex to female.
Lawsuit claims policy undermines fairness and safety
FAU argues that Minnesota’s current policy includes no physical standards or restrictions to account for the physiological differences between male and female athletes, creating a safety risk and compromising the integrity of girls’ sports. The lawsuit also notes that the team featuring the male athlete recently defeated last year’s defending state champions.
Renee Carlson, general counsel for True North Legal, is serving as co-counsel with ADF in the case. Carlson has spent more than a decade advocating for female athletes in Minnesota and previously testified against the transgender participation policy when it was first adopted by the MSHSL 10 years ago. She recently supported two bills aimed at banning male athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
Trump executive order cited in national debate
ADF and True North Legal are asking the court to declare the current policy unconstitutional and in violation of Title IX, and to prohibit male athletes from participating in girls’ sports statewide.
The lawsuit aligns with a broader national debate and echoes federal actions: in February, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” directing federal agencies to bar men from female sports and threatening to withhold funding from noncompliant schools.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
