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Minneapolis – For years, MS has become one of the top pitchers on the club softball team. She trained hard, gained her place and was used to competing under pressure. But it all changed when she learned that her teammate, now expected to compete for pitching time, is in fact a man.
“I just started to get bored right away,” said the 17-year-old Outkick. “I was pushing myself all season to do my best, and once I knew it, it seemed like all of the work was in vain.
MS ultimately decided to leave her club team. For her, she said, it was easy.
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“If there are boys on this team, I’m not going to play,” she said.
The boy (identifies as a girl) was junior Marissa Rosenberger from Champlin Park High School. Minnesota Girls Softball State Championship He led the team to the title after pitching a game on Friday morning and a shutout.
Currently, MS is the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) on behalf of Female Athletes United (FAU). The lawsuit challenges Minnesota and its public school districts over permitted policies. Identifying Identifying Male Athletes Competing in girls’ sports.
ADF Legal Counsel: “Minnesota’s policy violates Title IX”
LitigationMinnesota’s gender-based eligibility rules filed last month claim to be a direct violation of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on gender in education, including athletics.
“Minnesota currently has a policy to enable male athletes to compete in women’s sports,” explained Suzanne Beecher, an ADF lawyer, who represents the athletes. “But under Title IX, there is a need for schools that accept federal funding to provide equal opportunities for female athletes. Title IX It preempts such state policies and violates federal law’s requirements for equal accommodation. ”
File – Demonstrators will be cheering for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022, during the lecture program at the “Our Body, Our Sports” rally. (Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
The issue goes beyond basic fairness, Beecher said. It also involves safety, lost opportunities, and institutional negligence.
“This hurts a girl,” she told Outkick. “It puts them at a safety risk and denies the opportunity to advance and experience them. These are the girls they have dedicated their efforts to the longest possible time. It’s heartbreaking to see Minnesota’s unfair policies deny them a level playing field.”
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning men from competing in girls and women’s sports, citing these Title IX protections. The order revealed that states that fail to comply with the order are at risk of losing federal funds.
In direct opposition to the order, the Minnesota State High School League (MSSL) announced it would continue its long-standing policy of allowing student-athletes to compete in events consistent with gender identity, regardless of biological gender. The Alliance cited the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the state constitution as the basis for this policy.
Champlin Park and Egan players will shake hands following the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Girls Softball State Tournament. (Amber Harding/Out Kick)
Additionally, Minnesota allows individuals to change the sex markers on their birth certificates either by letters from doctors or by court orders, creating loopholes that are inherently useless for sexual protection.
“The justification for playing separate sports is due to the physiological differences between men and women,” Beecher said. “The state needs a policy that means meaningfully separates sports because there are protected categories for women. Girls deserve a fair and safe place where they can compete and win.”
Policy issues displayed at state softball tournaments
The issue was revealed this week at the MSHSL Girls State Softball Tournament. There, Rothenberger helped lead Champlin Park High School into the state championship game. Champlin Park beat Egan High School 5-0 in the quarter-finals and White Bear Lake 3-2 in the semi-finals. In addition to pitching a full back-to-back game, Rothenberger hit two doubles in that semi-final.
MS pitched in the Farmington High School tournament but lost in the quarter-finals. She didn’t have to go directly to Rothenberger, but she looked closely like the other girls did.
“There are so many girls who deserve it more than just a boy,” she said. “It was so sad to see all the girls crying and accept the fact that their chances of winning the state title were taken away from them.”
Champlin Park High School made headlines after dominating the Minnesota Softball State Championship, which is behind the performance of trans pitcher Marissa Rosenberger. (Getty Images via Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos)
MS has already committed to playing college softball in St. Cloud State, but her decision to take part in the lawsuit wasn’t just herself.
“Because it’s just painful to see a boy who rules the sport that me and the other girls play, running,” she said. “It’s been a safe space for a long time, and I think that’s the biggest reason I wanted to do it, to see the changes in that safe space.”
And her upcoming message is simple: “I want a girl playing with girls’ sports. Impress men out of women’s sports.”
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Minnesota fails female athletes
The ADF says Minnesota’s policies not only violate federal law, but also silence those affected. As Outkick previously reported, some parents and students in the tournament School officials warned me not to speak up Or wear a message against trance participation in state tournaments.
March 24, 2022, a current iteration of the Minnesota flag seen in St. Paul. (US reports, files via Mohamed Ibrahim/AP)
“Not only is Title IX violated, but the voices of female athletes are also silent,” Beecher said. “They are said to be unable to talk about their rights.”
Christie Burton Brown, chairman of the board of directors of Women Athletes United, has issued a strong statement to Outkick in support of MS and others.
“Minnesota’s extreme gender ideology has left many girls in Minnesota losing opportunities and putting their safety at risk, including three high school athletes,” she writes. “Science clearly shows that male athletes have physiological benefits that are not unfair and unsafe so that no matter how women identify, they can compete with women.
“The only way to protect the safety and opportunity of female athletes is to ensure that only girls compete in girls’ sports. Minnesota has failed female athletes and needs to change its policy to reflect biological reality.”
MS will return to the field for his senior season next year. By then, the rules will probably catch up with reality.
“I hope that next year’s state tournament will be very different to this year,” she said.
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