Female athletes protesting transgender competition in sports drop lawsuit against OSAA
Two female athletes dropped a lawsuit they had filed alleging that the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) discriminated against them for protesting transgender competition in women's sports. America First Policy Institute (AFPI), the conservative non-profit that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the two Oregon students, announced the dismissal on Thursday, noting that this does not impact a separate Title IX lawsuit they are backing, which pushed for Oregon to change its transgender inclusion policy in women's sports. AFPI claims the lawsuit was dropped after the athletes, Alexa Anderson and Reese Eckard, received their medals from OSAA. READ ALSO | Trump administration investigates Oregon's transgender athlete policiesAnderson and Eckard competed in Oregon's track and Field State championship in the spring, placing third and fourth in the Class 6A high jump event. An athlete the lawsuit claims is trans also competed, taking fifth place. During the podium ceremony, Anderson and Eckard chose to stand behind the podium and wore T-shirts protesting trans athletes' participation in female sports. The lawsuit claims they did not receive their medals and were pulled away from a group picture in retaliation for their act of protest. AFPI claims the metals were mailed "unceremoniously" by OSAA only after the lawsuit was filed. OSAA claims that athletes generally pick up their own medals from the podium and that they were unaware the girls had not picked theirs up as a result of the protest. OSAA claims they were unaware until the lawsuit was filed that the medals still had not been given to Anderson and Eckard.
