Washington Teenage Wrestler Sues State Over Assault by Transgender Student, School’s Inaction

The family of a female high school wrestler is suing Washington State after the teenager was allegedly sexually assaulted by her transgender opponent during a state wrestling tournament, accusing officials of failing to inform them of her opponent’s biological background.The teenager, Kallie Keeler, a sophomore at Rogers High School in Puyallup, Washington, and her mother, Stephanie Brown, claimed in their lawsuit that officials with the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association knew in advance that one of the wrestlers she was set to face during the Lady Jag Kickoff wrestling tournament in December 2025 was a biological male. During their match, Ms. Keeler and her attorneys claim her opponent, a student at the Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, had “pushed her fingers hard, through her singlet,” causing Ms. Keeler to scream that her opponent’s fingers were “in my c**chie!” Ms. Keeler then allowed her opponent to pin her to stop the match, her attorneys said in their lawsuit. It wasn’t until after the match that a coach from another school district team informed them both that the opponent was biologically male, according to their lawsuit. Ms. Brown sent a written complaint to the school about the incident, believing officials would report the assault to the school district’s Title IX coordinator and law enforcement. However, Ms. Brown accused school and state officials of ignoring the incident for 53 days and failing to adhere to the state’s mandated 48-hour reporting law for sexual assaults. It wasn’t until after Ms. Keeler’s story received media attention that school district officials reported the incident to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.Ms. Keeler has since left the wrestling team, accusing school officials of treating her “with coldness and distance,” adding she was “not safe in the hands of the state, WIAA, and school officials in charge of wrestling.”Ms. Keeler’s opponent has since voluntarily withdrawn from the stat wrestling championship but is still able to compete in girls’ wrestling next year. The school district’s Title IX investigation is still ongoing, according to her attorney. In February, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said it was opening its own investigation into Ms. Keeler’s incident.Washington state law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, and the WIAA allows students to “participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed.”In April, a proposed amendment that would have restricted girls’ sports for biological females won majority support among WIAA administrators but failed to secure the supermajority threshold to pass.Last week, Pierce County prosecutors declined to pursue charges in Ms. Keeler’s case, adding that “it’s clear that any potential charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”Ms. Keeler’s lawyer, Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney Kate Anderson, blamed her client’s sexual assault on “political cowardice” and for pushing gender ideology “at the expense of girls’ safety and privacy.”“Our client’s story is proof of the grave harms caused by lying about biology. This must end—otherwise, girls will continue getting hurt and violated,” she said in a statement.In response to the lawsuit, “Harry Potter” creator and author JK Rowling called the incident “appalling.”“I want those who champion men in women’s sport to explain why they’re happy to put girls at risk like this,“ Ms. Rowling said on X Thursday.

Washington Teenage Wrestler Sues State Over Assault by Transgender Student, School’s Inaction

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