Female Wrestler Sues Washington State, Schools Over Transgender Opponent's Alleged Sex Assault
Officials didn't tell high-school wrestler Kallie Keeler her tournament rival is biologically male.
A high-school wrestler sued Washington state education and athletic officials this week, alleging a transgender opponent sexually assaulted her during a girls’ tournament and school stewards failed to promptly report the incident to law enforcement.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tacoma’s U.S. District Court, comes as the Department of Education continues investigating whether the Puyallup School District violated Title IX in the incident and beyond.
The civil action follows last week’s Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office decision to reject the case. The office sent a memorandum to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, which had referred a rape charge, stating that “it’s clear that any potential charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so I cannot proceed further with charging this matter.”
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesman Adam Faber told The Washington Star deputy prosecutor Lena Berberich-Eerebout wrote the memo.
The 74-page complaint names as defendants the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and his office, Puyallup School District and district Title IX coordinator Gordon Brobbey, Rogers High School principal Jason Smith, and Emerald Ridge coach John Morrison.
Rogers High School sophomore Kallie Keeler was 15 years old when she competed in the December 6 Lady Jag Kickoff girls’ wrestling tournament at Emerald Ridge High School. During the last match’s second period, the complaint says, the other player “pushed fingers hard, through her singlet, her Nike pro spandex shorts, and her underwear. The opponent’s fingers penetrated her vagina for several seconds, causing great pain. Ms. Keeler cried out to her mother, who was recording the match, and then allowed herself to be pinned to end the encounter.”
Had she won that bout, Ms. Keeler would have finished third place in her weight class and been feted at the awards ceremony; her opponent took that spot.
Ms. Keeler, now 16, and her mother, Stephanie Brown, learned only after the match the opponent is biologically male. Ms. Brown reported the incident to coaches and school officials in writing December 8 and provided video. The lawsuit alleges school officials failed to notify law enforcement within the 48-hour period Washington law requires.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office did not receive a report until January 30, after a journalist contacted the district seeking comment — 53 days after the initial complaint. It opened a criminal investigation.
But Ms. Berberich-Eerebout concluded the evidence is insufficient to prove third-degree rape beyond a reasonable doubt and declined to file charges, saying the athlete’s transgender status “has no bearing” on the decision.
Her memo acknowledges the alleged victim “did not want any penetration to occur” but said witnesses familiar with wrestling said contact in the genital area is not “out of the ordinary.”
“We will not be charging this case because we cannot prove Rape 3 at trial. This does not mean that I approve of this conduct, or that I have no sympathy for the victim,” the deputy prosecutor writes. “It is apparent this had a profound impact on the victim.”
Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Kate Anderson, who filed the complaint, confirmed that. “A 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted because of political cowardice,” she said. “Washington state officials insist on pushing gender ideology at all costs — even at the expense of girls’ safety and privacy. No girl should have to unknowingly wrestle a boy.”
The lawsuit seeks damages, attorneys’ fees, and court orders requiring changes to policies governing participation in girls’ sports. Ms. Keeler has left the squad but would like to return under new rules.
The Puyallup School District told the Star Thursday it is “aware of the allegations” but “has not been formally served with the complaint.” And “because this matter involves student privacy considerations and anticipated litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association did not respond to the Star’s request for comment. Katy Payne, chief strategy officer for Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, told the Star the office has no comment on the lawsuit. “I don’t believe we have been contacted by the U.S. Department of Education” on its probe of the incident, she said.
Announcing it opened an investigation February 13 into the Puyallup School District, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights declared, “The Trump Administration will not tolerate this conduct.”
It’s examining whether the district violated Title IX by allowing males to compete in girls’ sports, permitting males to use girls’ locker rooms, and failing to adequately respond to sexual-assault reports.
“The allegations in this case are sickening — that a female athlete was not only unknowingly forced to compete against a male in a girls-only division, but that her report of sexual assault was ignored by Puyallup School District for months,” said Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights.
Puyallup School District told the Star, “The district has responded to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and has provided the information and documentation requested as part of its review.”
The probe is part of President Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Biden administration’s “inclusive” view of Title IX regarding transgender athletes.
Since his second inauguration, Mr. Trump has rescinded President Joe Biden’s Title IX regulations that protected gender identity and sexual orientation and ordered all federal agencies to recognize only biological male and female based on sex at conception. His first-day executive order Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government also directs education officials to oppose transgender participation in girls’ and women’s sports.
Twenty-seven states bar transgender students from playing on school sports teams inconsistent with their biological sex. House Republicans have advanced bills such as the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, while broader federal protections like the Equality Act remain stalled.
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