Male-born long-distance runner Evie Parts has sued the NCAA and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania by claiming illegal removal from the women's track team on Feb. 6, the same day a new NCAA policy was issued on transgender athletes, The U.S. Sun reported on Monday.
The lawsuit claims that the ban didn't have legal grounds, because the NCAA isn't a governmental organization and thus doesn't have jurisdiction over Pennsylvania state law or the Title IX federal statute.
The NCAA's new policy was issued a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at banning biological males from competing in women's sports.
According to the lawsuit, when Parts was kicked off the team after having joined it in 2020, the athlete went into "depressive state" and wanted to commit suicide.
Swarthmore issued a statement that it "deeply values our transgender community members," according to ESPN.
The statement continued that "we recognize that this is an especially difficult and painful time for members of the transgender community, including student athletes. We worked to support Evie Parts in a time of rapidly evolving guidance, while balancing the ability for other members of the women's track team to compete in NCAA events.
The college added that "given the pending litigation, we will not comment any further."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.