Puyallup student athlete sues WA, alleging sexual assault by trans opponent during wrestling match
A high school wrestler is suing Washington state over its policy on transgender athletes, alleging that a trans athlete sexually assaulted her during a match.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Puyallup athlete claims she was unknowingly made to wrestle with a transgender student during a high school girls wrestling tournament in December 2025, sponsored by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for middle and high school athletics. She was 15 at the time.
The lawsuit comes as Washington’s policy on transgender athletics has become a political lightning rod on both sides of the aisle, especially in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order last year, titled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.”
A statewide ballot initiative this November will ask voters to consider banning trans girls from competing on girls’ school sports teams.
RELATED: Transgender ballot initiative could require genital exams for WA secondary school students
In the recent lawsuit, the high school wrestler claims her opponent shoved her “fingers through her spandex clothing, digitally penetrating her vagina, and holding the position for several seconds,” according to the complaint.
The plaintiff was “visibly distressed,” the complaint says, and shouted to her mother, who was recording the match, that the opponent’s fingers “are ‘in my coochie!’”
Eventually, the plaintiff allowed her opponent to pin her. Shortly afterward, she found out her opponent was trans — “and felt violated all over again,” the complaint states.
Although the plaintiff’s mother informed coaches of the alleged sexual assault “swiftly” and provided them with a video of the match, she and her daughter say that officials at Puyallup’s Rogers High School did not take appropriate action.
“Despite mandatory reporter laws, officials ignored the incident until it became a national news story weeks later,” their lawsuit reads. “Even now, they refuse to take it seriously — to deal with the assault, to reserve girls sports for girls, or even to give parents the necessary notice so they can keep their daughters safe.”
The student and her mother have called on the state to change its policy of allowing trans athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity.
The complaint — filed on behalf of the student athlete and her mother by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy nonprofit — names the WIAA, Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and his office, and several officials from the Puyallup School District.
In a statement, a WIAA spokesperson said the agency is aware of the complaint and does not comment on pending litigation. The WIAA has said in the past that it knows of fewer than 10 trans athletes playing on school sports teams statewide.
Implemented in 2007, Washington’s transgender athletics policy was the first of its kind in the nation and has been heralded as a model of inclusivity to other states. The 2007 policy was prompted by a state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
RELATED: Washington schools grapple with conflicting policy on trans sports
State Superintendent Reykdal has been one of Washington’s loudest voices against the administration’s efforts to restrict trans students’ participation in sports. He’s essentially advised Washington schools to ignore Trump’s executive orders, previously calling them discriminatory and an example of “federal overreach.”
“Washington public schools have a responsibility to provide a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for all students, including transgender and gender-expansive students,” he said in a previous statement.
He added: “When schools affirmatively support gender diversity, all students are empowered to live more authentically and to take advantage of different opportunities that might not have otherwise been available.”
On a national stage, prominent athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Billie Jean King have said trans athletes are not a threat.
Studies have shown that transgender students are more likely to experience sexual assault and violence than cis-gender students. Others have shown that trans-inclusion in spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms does not make single sex spaces less safe.
But the political right — and some on the left — point to cases like this one as evidence that trans students should not be allowed to compete in girls’ sports.
Over half of U.S. states have enacted laws or agency regulations that limit trans students’ participation in sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights.
Some say Washington should join those states. The WIAA board has considered similar restrictions over the past two years, though both efforts failed.
At least one school district, tucked away on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, took its own action to ban trans athletes, though there were no such athletes there.
RELATED: Small town on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula shows its pride following school trans ban
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has hit Washington state and individual school districts with multiple investigations on this subject — including this incident.
In a statement announcing the U.S. Department of Education’s inquiry into the Puyallup School District’s policies on trans athletes in February, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey called the allegations in this case “sickening.”
“While the district may prioritize ideological agendas over the safety and dignity of its students, the Trump Administration will not tolerate such conduct,” Richey said. “We will continue to vigorously enforce Title IX to ensure that women and girls have safe, equal access to educational programs and opportunities, and that allegations of sexual assault are addressed promptly and fully.”
