This story includes a description of a sexual assault.
A male athlete identifying as female sexually assaulted high school athlete Kallie Keeler in a December wrestling tournament, according to a new lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The lawsuit, K.M.K. v. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, alleges that school officials failed to tell Keeler ahead of time that she would be matched against a male opponent and failed to report the assault for weeks after it happened.
The complaint, filed last week, asks the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington for a permanent injunction barring males from competing in women’s athletics, alleging that the current practice violates Title IX and discriminates against young women by requiring them to choose between athletic participation and their physical safety. Named among the defendants are the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which hosted the event and regulates athletic competitions under state law; the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state’s primary education agency; the Puyallup School District; and Keeler’s wrestling coach.
Keeler, who was 15 at the time, was unknowingly matched with a male athlete at a high school girls’ wrestling tournament in Washington state in 2025, according to ADF. During the match, the male competitor forcibly penetrated her with his finger, at which point Keeler shouted out in horror and allowed her opponent to win to end the match, the lawsuit states. Video of the incident appears consistent with Keeler’s account.
Keeler didn’t find out her opponent was male until a different team’s coach told her after the fact, ADF alleges. Her mother, Stephanie Brown, immediately reported the assault with video evidence of the match to coaches and school staff.
Yet, “for days and days and days, absolutely nothing happened,” Hal Frampton, senior counsel at ADF, said in a June 11 interview with The Federalist’s M.D. Kittle on the Vicki McKenna Show. ADF says the school district didn’t notify law enforcement of the assault until 53 days after it happened, violating the state’s mandatory 48-hour reporting law.
The school district told Keeler and Brown that its policy on transgender athletes would remain the same, according to ADF. “If she goes back to wrestling, they can match her again against a male athlete, and they will not tell her or her mother in advance,” ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson told The Federalist. Without a change in the policy, Keeler decided to quit wrestling for the rest of the season. “Kallie would love nothing more than to be able to wrestle again in an environment that is fair and safe to her … but she’s not going to do it if she’s not going to be safe,” Frampton said.
The Federalist asked the WIAA if the association intends to continue forcing women like Keeler to compete with men, as ADF alleges. Director of Communications Sean Bessette responded that “The WIAA is aware of the complaint and does not comment on pending litigation.”
The Federalist also asked the superintendent of the Puyallup School District about the allegations that school employees failed to promptly address the alleged assault and that staff are prohibited from notifying female athletes that their opponent is male, but did not receive a response. Likewise, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Rogers High School did not respond when asked about the alleged Title IX violation.
According to a 2022 handout, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction interprets state law as requiring schools to let “transgender and nonbinary students … participate on the interscholastic sports team that most closely aligns with their gender identity.”
ADF argues the school district, the WIAA, and the state put Keeler in danger and prevented her mother, Brown, from protecting her. “Kallie’s mom was in the gym with her daughter, but she could not protect her because the district’s written policy prohibits notifying parents or anyone else when their daughters will be matched against male athletes,” Anderson said in a press release. A policy listed on the state education agency’s website under the title “Gender Inclusive Schools” directs school employees not to “share a student’s transgender or gender-diverse status, legal name, or sex assigned at birth with others.”
“[Keeler] was sexually assaulted because of political cowardice,” Anderson said. “Washington state officials insist on pushing gender ideology at all costs—even at the expense of girls’ safety and privacy.”
In February, the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) initiated an investigation into whether Keeler’s school district violated Title IX by “allowing males to compete in female sports” and “failing to adequately respond to allegations of sexual assault.”
Before Keeler’s alleged assault, ADF had already filed at least two complaints with the DoE’s Office for Civil Rights regarding school transgender policies. One involved two young women in Washington state who were forced to compete against males. The two track-and-field athletes, Soleil Hoefer and Kora Lengerich, both faced a male student who had won the previous year’s state championship for the girls’ 400-meter.
The complaints, filed in April 2025, argued that the inclusion of male athletes violated Title IX and urged DoE “to open an investigation and obtain compliance with federal law, or, if necessary, rescind federal funding.” Two days later, DoE opened a special Title IX investigations team along with the Justice Department. Just a few months earlier, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
This year, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on two cases, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P. J., relating to transgender athletes. At issue in those cases are state laws prohibiting males from competing in women’s sports.
“There are true differences between men and women in terms of strength and many other things,” Anderson told The Federalist. “We should honor those differences.”
