Trans runner sues student athletics body and college after being removed from team

A transgender track star is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and her college in Pennsylvania, after she was removed from the team.

Warning: mentions of depression, self-harm and suicide follow. 

Long-distance runner Evie Parts was dropped from the Swarthmore College team on the same day in that the NCAA issued new guidelines on trans athletes, according to AP News. The policy change followed president Donald Trump signing an executive order to ban trans women from female sports teams.

Now, Parts is claiming that the NCCAA’s ban does not have legal grounds because it is not a government-run organisation and does not have jurisdiction over state law or civil right legislation Title IX. 

Also named in the lawsuit were Swarthmore men’s and women’s track coach Peter Carroll, athletic director Brad Koch and athletics officials Christina Epps-Chiazor and Valerie Gomez. 

The lawsuit alleges that those named caused Parts to enter “such a depressive state that she engaged in self-harm and told a friend that she wanted to kill herself”. 

Susie Cirilli, Parts’ lawyer, said: “As stated in the complaint, the NCAA is a private organisation that issued a bigoted policy. Swarthmore College chose to follow that policy and disregard federal and state law.”

A spokesperson for the college responded to news of the lawsuit by saying: “We recognise 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. Given the pending litigation, we will not comment any further.” 

Pennsylvania’s state senate approved a bill in May to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports at collegiate level and from kindergarten up to year 12, The Guardian reported.  

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