Ivy League Hit With Title IX Suit Over Transgender Swimmer (3)

Three women who swam in the 2021-2022 Ivy League Championships are asking a federal district court to vacate the record of a transgender swimmer they say had an unfair advantage over them.

The Ivy League sought to “normalize cross-sex competition in previously sex-separated sports categories and render inevitable nationwide acceptance of a new set of gender norms for college sports,” according to the proposed class action filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The suit alleges the NCAA misconstrued Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and effectively deprived women of equal opportunity in college sports.

The swimmers seek to represent a class of about 206 people over whether transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation in the championships violated Title IX.

The lawsuit is the second Independent Council on Women’s Sports-backed case against the NCAA relating to Lia Thomas’ athletic career. The nonprofit group first supported a suit against several Georgia universities that was filed in March 2024 by a handful of other women swimmers.

Several women and families have reached out to the group, seeking to hold “schools, organizations, and national governing bodies accountable for the harm that women have faced,” co-founder Kim Jones said in an interview Wednesday.

Hunter Iannucci, counsel with the National Women’s Law Center, said that sentiment is misplaced.

“Civil rights are not a zero-sum game, and in fact Title IX’s purpose to end sex discrimination is actualized when all women and girls get the chance to play, including trans women and girls,” they said in an interview Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges one of the plaintiffs—Ellen Holmquist, who attended the University of Pennsylvania with Thomas—lost an opportunity to compete in the championships that year “by one spot.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday banning transgender female athletes from participating in women’s sports. Swimmer Riley Gaines—one of the plaintiffs in the Georgia suit—was present at the press conference where he signed the order.

“There will be no federal funding” if schools allow transgender women to compete on women’s teams, Trump said.

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” the NCAA said in a statement provided to Bloomberg Law Wednesday. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”

“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration,” it said.

The executive order comes as courts are wrestling with how to respond to a growing number of transgender athlete bans among the states.

West Virginia, for instance, failed in 2023 to convince the US Supreme Court to let it temporarily ban a transgender girl from competing on her middle school track team while litigation proceeded over her ongoing participation, over the dissent of two justices.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit later issued a split ruling holding that the plaintiff student should have been granted summary judgment on her Title IX claim.

Judge G. Steven Agee dissented, saying the Fourth Circuit erred in another case finding that a school’s restroom policy violated Title IX. He cited a case where the en banc Eleventh Circuit said that separating bathrooms based on biological sex comports with Title IX.

“We’re going to need some rulings from the highest court,” Jones said. “There’s split circuits on this.”

The Second, Seventh, and Ninth circuits disagree with the Eleventh Circuit.

A federal district court last November allowed a transgender San Jose State University student to continue playing on the school’s volleyball team. The judge held that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended employment discrimination protections under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to transgender people, also applies to Title IX cases.

The swimmers in the Ivy League suit assert two claims under Title IX. They seek damages and a declaration that the transgender swimmer was ineligible to compete on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team, as well as attorneys’ fees.

The Ivy League Council, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kroger Gardis & Regas LLP and Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Estabrook v. The Ivy League Council and Presidents, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-10281, complaint filed 2/4/25.