Students sue RivCo school district over transgender policy, free speech concerns
Two Riverside high school students who faced repercussions for wearing T-shirts expressing opposition to a transgender student receiving accommodations on the girls' track-and-field team are federally suing the Riverside Unified School District over alleged freedom of speech and other civil rights violations, it was announced today.
"We will not allow boys to take over girls' sports, or let woke policies silence young women fighting for fair competition," Murrieta-based Advocates for Faith & Freedom attorney Julianne Fleischer said. "This case is about protecting equal opportunities and the freedom to speak out -- values that should be upheld, not suppressed, in our schools."
The civil suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Riverside, requesting injunctions against the school district, particularly Martin Luther King High School, alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment violations.
RUSD administrators did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.
"The suit contends that RUSD's policies unfairly restrict their freedom of expression and deny them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities,'' according to the plaintiffs.
The two girls wore shirts earlier this year bearing the messages "Save Girls' Sports" and "It's Common Sense -- XX (does not equal) XY.'"
Advocates for Faith & Freedom allege MLK High staff "ordered the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a `hostile' environment, comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika.''
"The civil complaint highlights RUSD's failure to comply with Title IX, which guarantees equal athletic opportunities based on biological sex,'' according to the organization. The student "was ousted from her position on the varsity cross country team to make room for a biological male transgender athlete, who did not consistently attend practices and failed to meet the team's strict qualifying requirements. As a result, [the student] missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition."
The plaintiffs said the district's policies promote "selective enforcement of dress codes'' that impinge on free speech and undermine Title IX by not ensuring "fair athletic opportunities for female students.''
"I'm calling on President Trump and the incoming Congress to restore women's' sports and to stop the mockery of women by this radical and ignorant ideology,'' attorney Robert Tyler said.
MLK has been a hotbed of activity connected to the presence of transgender students. Last year, one of them was reportedly expelled for assaulting a girl in a dispute over the individual's use of a designated female locker room.
