Pennsylvania Schools Beat Title IX Suit Over Transgender Athlete

Two Pennsylvania school districts and the state’s athletics governing body defeated Title IX claims brought by a cisgender female athlete over a transgender female’s participation in a high school track meet.

Aislin Magalengo “failed to allege any facts” that the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Inc. is federally funded to support her Title IX claim against it, nor did she present sufficient allegations for her Title IX claims against the individual school districts, Chief Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in an Aug. 1 opinion dismissing the suit.

Magalengo, a former student of Quakertown Community High School, competed in a cross-country meet against a school within Pennsylvania’s Colonial School District, which had a transgender girl on its cross-country team. PIAA, which oversees middle and high school sports teams, had a policy at the time stating that where a student’s gender is “questioned or uncertain, the decision of the Principal as to the student’s gender will be accepted by the PIAA.”

Several school districts and universities have been hit with lawsuits by the Trump administration and cisgender female athletes, alleging that policies allowing transgender girls to participate in female sports violate Title IX.

Following President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender women and girls’ participation in female sports, PIAA replaced the word “gender” in its policy with “sex,” the opinion said.

Magalengo continued to compete against the transgender athlete throughout the season. She sued Colonial and Quakertown school districts and PIAA for violations of Title IX and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

But Magalengo presented no allegations that establish Colonial had substantial control over the context in which the alleged discrimination occurred, since she competed against the transgender student at a race hosted within Quakertown’s school district, Beetlestone said.

Magalengo also didn’t allege Quakertown “had any knowledge” about the transgender student’s participation until her parents complained to the school after she lost a race. Without that notice, Quakertown “cannot be held liable under Title IX, the judge said. She dismissed the Title IX claims against the PIAA and Colonial, as well as the Title IX claim against Quakertown—"insofar as it is premised on transgender girls’ participation in athletics.”

Magalengo also “makes no effort” to link allegations that Quakertown allowed transgender girls to use female bathrooms and locker rooms to her Title IX claim. A claim based on a policy allowing students to use those facilities that align with their gender identity is “unlikely to succeed on the merits,” Beetlestone said, dismissing it with prejudice,"insofar as it is premised on transgender girls using girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.”

The amended complaint is “devoid of any facts” to plausibly suggest that Quakertown had a “policy or custom” implicating Magalengo’s § 1983 claim, the judge said. And the allegations are insufficient to show the decision to allow the transgender student to compete “constituted anything close to” an official policy by Colonial, Beetlestone said, dismissing both of her § 1983 claims with prejudice.

Magalengo also didn’t allege she shared a bathroom or locker room with a transgender girl. But even so, a 2018 Third Circuit ruling, which held that a school district had a compelling interest to allow transgender students to use their preferred facilities, requires Magalengo’s constitutional claims against PIAA to be dismissed with prejudice. The 2018 decision declined to recognize a broader constitutional right to privacy “‘in a space that is, by definition and common usage, just not that private,’” Beetlestone wrote.

The amended complaint is additionally “devoid of any factual allegations that she was subject to purposeful discrimination,” the judge said, dismissing with prejudice her equal protection claims.

The Law Office of Keith Altman PLLC and Jacob Litigation Inc. represented Magalengo. McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC represented PIAA. Fox Rothschild LLP represented Colonial. Levin Legal Group PC represented Quakertown.

The case is Magalengo v. Pa. Interscholastic Athletic Ass’n Inc., E.D. Pa., No. 25-cv-00325, dismissed 8/1/25.