New Lawsuit Accuses MLK High School of Preferential Treatment to Transgender Athlete over Female Athletes

In a lawsuit filed last week, two female athletes at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside County are challenging woke school officials who barred them from wearing t-shirts promoting girls sports and pushed one of them off the elite cross-country team in favor of an unqualified biological male masquerading as female.

The  girls, identified in court papers as K.S. and T.S.,  say the school authorities violated their First Amendment rights by censoring their t-shirts that said,  “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY.”  They also say the school violated federal law that guarantees females equal access in sports by removing T.S. from the squad for a biological male who missed most practices and did not even meet team criteria.

The lawsuit has already garnered much sympathy for the students. Last Thursday, the day after it was filed, supporters packed a regularly scheduled school board meeting to speak in their defense.

“I’m here today to put you on notice,” parent Jose Carillo warned the board. “After today, there will be advocates here at every school board meeting … There’s going to be a lot more of us. It’s going to be standing-room only.”

Another teammate of K.S. and T.S gave an impassioned speech in their defense and vividly objected to having to share space with a biological male.

The girl said that, “It is not OK that I have to be in a position where I’m going to practice and have to see a male in booty shorts and having to see that around me.”

“I’m constantly affected by the actions taken place this season, and I have been around the females, and just my team in general, who have felt almost silenced to speak out about it, because the whole LGBTQ is shoved down our throats,” she declared.

K.S. and T.S.  and their families are being represented by the Murieta, California-based Advocates for Faith and Freedom law firm. The lawsuit was filed on November 20th in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

The defendants are the Riverside Unified School District, Martin Luther King High School principal Leann Iacuone and athletic director Amanda Chann.

The complaint says that the District’s policies and actions “unfairly restrict” the girls’ “freedom of expression and deny them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities.”

The lawsuit charges the District violated K.S. and T.S’s constitutional rights to free speech, due process and equal protection, as well as running afoul of the federal landmarks Title IX legislation that prohibits discrimination based on gender in sports.

The fracas dates to a cross-country meet known as the Mt. SAC Invitational  scheduled for October 26, 2024. T.S. who was on the Varsity Top 7 was scheduled to participate But she was removed from the list and “relegated to junior varsity” when athletic director Amanda Chann interceded.

The Martin Luther King High School varsity coach “initially identified T.S. on the Varsity Top 7 list for the Mr. SAC International. However Defendant Chan intervened, modified the list” and placed the transgender student, identified in  court papers as ML on the Varsity Top 7 replacing T.S.”

This was a form of affirmative action, the complaint makes clear. “Rather than equally apply the varsity qualifications to all students, Defendants chose to favor M.L. over T.S. because M.L. is transgender.”

“T.S. was ousted from her position on the girls’ varsity cross-country team to make room for a biological male transgender athlete who did not consistently attend practices and failed to satisfy many of the term’s varsity eligibility qualifications.”

There were consequences for T.S. As a result of being ousted, “T.S. missed opportunities to compete at a high profile-meet, losing valuable chances for the girls cross-country team.”

The lawsuit says the special preference for the transgender student violated Title IX because it was “discriminatory in effect and denies T.S., a female, equality in athletic opportunities, including equal opportunity to achieve and be recognized for victory.”

Ousted from the meet, T.S. nevertheless got support there when it took place on October 26. Approximately 18-20 parents and grandparents of MLKHS student athletes wore t-shirts with the message “Save Girls Sports” on the front of the shirt and the message “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY” on the back of the shirt.

K.S. and T.S. both wore the shirts. As did parents from another school. And the winner of the meet put on the shirt after she crossed the finish line.

Nobody complained.

But the next day when K.S. and T.S. wore the “Save Girls Sports” t-shirt to practice, athletic director Chann interceded again. She told the girls the shirt created a “hostile” environment” and “was analogous to a student who wore a shirt with a swastika in front of a Jewish student.”

Chan told the girls they should either change into something else or wear the shirt inside out so the offending messages were not visible. They changed into something else.

But following the censorship T.S.’s mother complained to the School District. She eventually received a response from Martin Luther King High School Principal Leann Iacuone that sounds like it was written by School District lawyers. And also used the Nazi analogy.

“Defendant Iaucone referenced District dress code” prohibiting clothing that creates a “hostile environment” and “stated that the Save Girls Sports shirts create a hostile environment for one of the athletes on the team” because  “the t-shirts are reasonably understood as being directed at a specific transgender athlete on the team and reasonably may be understood as intended to intimidate,  belittle or hurt the athlete.”

But harassment law requires messaging to be directed at somebody specifically. “The messages on the shirt were not directed towards any student, teammate or individual,” the lawsuit notes in that regard.

The girls were not calling the transgender student  names. They were simply expressing a message, which is at the core of the First Amendment.

In fact, the transgender student was not even at the practice when the girls wore the t-shirt, the lawsuit says. And nobody complained about the shirt.

The lawsuit notes that “non-disruptive, individual student expression is protected by the First Amendment” and there was nothing disruptive about the t-shirt.

“K.S. and T.S. ‘s expression–wearing a shirt with messages Save Girls Sports and It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY–did not and does not materially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activity at MLKHS.”

The Riverside Unified School District communications office did not respond to a request for comment.

But District spokeswoman Liz Pinney-Muglia told the San Francisco Chronicle,  in a statement which said nothing about the free speech violations,  that, “California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics.”

She also said, “The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values, which include equity and well-being.”

Incidentally, the San Francisco Chronicle article had a headline that smeared the students and shows the author did not even read the lawsuit or chose to purposely misrepresent its contents: “Student athletes sue California district over right to wear shirts targeting trans teammate.”

They are not asserting any such right. The lawsuit explicitly said the t-shirt was not targeting anyone and the transgender student was not even at practice when the girls wore it.

It is school officials who are saying the t-shirt targeted the students. But the San Francisco Chronicle gobbled up that spin–rather than accord with standard journalism skepticism–in order to depict the girls as predators. That is the kind of thing that belongs in an opinion piece, not a news article.

Advocates for Faith and Freedom lawyer Julianne Fleischer told the California Globe that school officials comparing the girls sports t-shirt to a swastika was particularly offensive and show how they are determined to stamp out dissent.

“When school officials compare a message that promotes fairness and equality in sports to a symbol associated with the genocide of millions of Jews it is not only deeply offensive to many but also highlights the school’s attempt to silence any message they disagree with,” she emailed. “This disturbing comparison reflects a clear effort to suppress open dialogue and intimidate students into compliance. By standing up for their rights, these young female athletes are setting a powerful example. Their lawsuit isn’t just about a cross-country race—its’ about free speech and fighting for the rights of every female athlete across the country.”

This article has been updated with the corrected law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom.