Judge dismisses lawsuit against NCAA over transgender athlete policy

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines which claimed the NCAA violated her rights by permitting transgender athletes to compete in women's sports.

Gaines competed against 2022 College graduate Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Monday’s ruling has significant ramifications for a similar lawsuit brought by three former Penn swimmers against the University, which a federal court stayed last year pending a decision in Gaines v. NCAA.

A request for comment was left with Gaines and a University spokesperson.

United States District Judge Tiffany Johnson wrote in a Sept. 28 brief that the court ruled in favor of the NCAA because the organization “is not covered by Title IX.”

“Despite its collaboration with the United States Department of Defense, it did not receive money from the federal government,” Johnson wrote.

Last February, 2022 College graduate Grace Estabrook, 2024 College graduate Margot Kaczorowski, and 2024 College graduate Ellen Holmquist filed a lawsuit alleging that Thomas’ participation deprived them of “equal opportunities as women to compete and win while being denied the opportunity to protect their privacy in separate and equal locker rooms.”

The University submitted a motion to dismiss that suit — which named Penn, Harvard University, the NCAA, and Ivy League as defendants — a few months later, writing that the plaintiffs “cannot establish causation against Penn” and that they “failed to plead that they suffered a concrete injury related to their claims.”

In July of that year, a federal court dismissed both Harvard and the Ivy League from the filing, and Massachusetts federal district Judge William Young issued a stay. 

“With the Ivy League and Harvard dismissed from the suit, this Court determined, this suit would turn on legal questions almost identical to those at issue in the suit previously filed,” Young wrote at the time.  

In a statement to Politico, Gaines wrote that she plans to appeal the decision.

“This momentary setback will not deter me or other women athletes in the least,” Gaines wrote. “We are on the side of truth. I am confident Americans will rally to our side to fight the NCAA. Working together we will defeat the NCAA’s continuing efforts to trample women’s rights in sports.”

On July 1, 2025, Penn settled with the Department of Education to resolve an investigation into the same matter. Penn Athletics agreed to “adopt biology-based definitions for the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ pursuant to Title IX and consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders."

The settlement, which Gaines lauded at the time, also required that Penn remove Thomas’ individual records.

---