WA female athletes stand up for girls, voters, new state law protecting women’s sports

SEATTLE – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Female Athletes United, which has several female-athlete members in Washington state who have been forced to compete against males, filed a motion Friday in state court to intervene in Washington Education Association v. State of Washington.

Less than one week after voters in the state passed Initiative 638 by double digits to protect women’s sports, the American Civil Liberties Union and other activist groups filed suit against the law on behalf of male athletes who compete on girls’ sports teams.

ADF attorneys are asking the court to allow FAU to defend the newly enacted law. FAU is a nonprofit organization with female-athlete members in Washington state who are directly affected by the initiative, including high-school cross-country runners who have been forced to compete against males, and will inevitably have to do so again, unless the initiative takes effect on Dec. 3 as scheduled.

“Washington voters did exactly what the Supreme Court said states may do: they protected girls’ sports, and by double digits. Now the ACLU is asking a court to overturn their decision, but the ACLU can’t change truth or biology,” said ADF President, CEO, and Chief Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “Girls deserve equal opportunity, fairness, and safety, and more than 1.7 million voters said so. It is shameful that the ACLU would sue to take that away from our daughters.”

“Female athletes know better than anyone what is at stake when males compete in girls’ sports. They lose roster spots, championships, scholarships, safety, and privacy, as our client Kallie Keeler did when she was sexually assaulted on the mat in Washington state,” Waggoner added. “Young women are done being told to stay silent. If the ACLU wants this fight, game on.”

The motion to intervene explains how FAU’s cross-country members in Washington state recently experienced firsthand what’s at stake. A male who identifies as female at Camas High School began the 2026 season on the boys’ team and placed 76th in a boys’ junior varsity race. A few weeks later, this athlete was racing as a girl, and within weeks, the athlete won a girls’ varsity race. Several FAU Washington members who raced, or refused to race, against this male runner are seeking to defend Initiative 638, including the following athletes:

• Charlie Garrett, a Skyview High School junior and team captain, lined up against the male runner on Sept. 15, then stepped off the course in protest. Garrett then raced the male runner, and lost, three more times.
• Sierra Retzlaff, a sophomore at Skyview High School, also declined to race against the male runner on Sept. 15, stepping off the course in protest. Retzlaff later raced against the male runner three times. At all three races, the male athlete placed ahead of girls.
• Elise Bierer, a cross-country runner at Battle Ground High School, refused to race the same male athlete at districts, giving up her chance at regionals.
• Ahnaleigh Wilson, a junior at Eastmont High School, raced the same male athlete at the state final and was bumped down in the rankings as a result.
• Former Prosser High School track athlete Soleil Hoefer’s team had likewise earlier competed against and lost to a male athlete in the girls’ 4×400 meters at state: The male athlete’s team placed second and bumped Hoefer’s team down a spot, and the athlete won the individual girls’ 400 final.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.