A male athlete who identifies as female is seeking damages from Princeton University and athletic officials after he was removed from a track meet at the New Jersey-based school.
Sadie Schreiner, a male who began identifying as female in high school, filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court with the assistance of attorney Susan Cirilli on July 15. The lawsuit lists Princeton University, timing vendor Leone Timing and Results Services, Athletic Director John Mack and Director of Track Operations Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick as defendants.
The athlete seeks unspecified damages for what the filing claims was a “humiliating, dehumanizing and dignity-stripping ordeal” witnessed by his friends and relatives.
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The lawsuit argues defendants “knowingly and maliciously discriminated against Sadie Schreiner on the basis of [his] gender identity and expression,” noting that Princeton University is considered a place of public accommodation under New Jersey law.
Despite previously running for the Division III Rochester Institute of Technology, Schreiner planned to compete as an unattached athlete during the Larry Ellis Invitational, named after a Princeton track and field coach.
Schreiner originally signed up to compete in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races before deciding to declare for the 200-meter race only, according to the lawsuit. Schreiner reported for the 200-meter race on May 3, learning 15 minutes before the race that his name had been removed from the official list of competitors.
“Seeking an answer to [his] unexplained exclusion, Sadie first complained to the persons employed by the official race-timing officials from Defendant Leone Timing and Race Services and then to the Princeton officials in charge of the meet, only to be told that despite the mandate of New Jersey law disallowing discrimination on the basis of being transgender, Princeton would not allow her to run solely because she was a transgender woman,” the complaint states.
When the athlete attempted to speak with the Leone Timing Officials about his name being removed from the list, the officials directed him to Mack and Keenan-Kirkpatrick.
The lawsuit alleges that the timing officials “aided and abetted the unlawful discrimination” against the athlete because, during this time, they were reportedly already aware that Princeton University and race officials had removed Schreiner from the list.
When Schreiner spoke with Keenan-Kirkpatrick, the track operations director stated that she had attempted to organize a separate event for the male athlete so that he could compete. At one point during the conversation, Keenan-Kirkpatrick allegedly told Schreiner, “I do not want to assume, but you are transgender.”
Princeton University, Leone Timing and Results Services and Cirilli did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
“We stand by the allegations in the pleading,” Cirilli told The Associated Press on Friday. “As stated in the complaint, the defendants’ individual actions were intolerable in a civilized community and go beyond the possible bounds of decency.”
The lawsuit follows the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s decision to prohibit males from competing in women’s sports after President Donald Trump issued an executive order vowing to cut off federal funding to schools that allow males who identify as female to participate on women’s sports teams.
Trump’s order and the NCAA’s new policy come amid concerns that policies allowing males trans-identified athletes to compete on women’s sports teams put female athletes at a disadvantage, on average, due to the biological differences between men and women.
Lia (Will) Thomas, who competed on the men’s swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania for three seasons prior, won a women’s national championship in 2022, drawing criticism from advocates of women’s sports.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration and the University of Pennsylvania reached an agreement concluding that the school violated Title IX sex-based civil rights protections by allowing Thomas to compete in women’s swimming competitions. UPenn agreed to a resolution with the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights and will strip Thomas of his records and titles and restore them to female athletes.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear two cases related to the constitutionality of state laws prohibiting male trans-identified athletes from participating in athletic contests designated for females.
One case is centered around an Idaho law that was struck down by a federal court and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2023. Another case involves a challenge to West Virginia’s restriction, signed into law in 2021, which was blocked by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023.
The clothing brand XX-XY Athletics, which advocates for fairness in women’s sports, published a video in May that featured several female athletes calling on Nike to support their cause. One of the women featured in the video, former North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb, said that she had “dreams of playing” the sport in college.
“But those were all taken away from me by a man,” McNabb declared.
During a volleyball game against a rival high school in 2022, McNabb was hit in the head by a volleyball spiked over the net by a male athlete competing as a woman on the opposing team. According to the Independent Women’s Forum, a medical evaluation later revealed that the injury had resulted in neurological impairments, including partial paralysis and memory impairment.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
