Idaho State track athletes want transgender lawsuit tossed

BOISE, Idaho — Two female athletes at Idaho State University want a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a new state law banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports, the first such law in the nation.

Madison Kenyon, 19, of Johnston, Colo., and Mary Marshall, 20, of Twin Falls, Idaho, run track and cross-country on scholarships at the university. Each said they’ve lost to a transgender athlete from the University of Montana and contend that transgender athletes are unfair competition.

Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom are representing the two athletes. They filed the request to side with the state of Idaho in fighting the lawsuit and are asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.

“Female defeat by a male athlete is uniquely demoralizing due to the elemental inequity involved in being subjected to the matchup in the first place,” court documents state. “Male intrusion represents the elimination from female sport of the relationship of effort to success that makes the draw of sport and competitive striving what it is.”

Republican Gov. Brad Little in May signed into law the measure that received overwhelming support in the Republican-dominated House and Senate, but was universally opposed by Democrats. It takes effect July 1.

The ban applies to all teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. A girls’ or women’s team will not be open to transgender students who identify as female.