Monroe’s board protects girls’ sports, and the ACLU is challenging the rule
The ACLU says Monroe’s girls-only sports and locker-room policy violates Michigan law, turning the board’s new protection for daughters into a fight over Elliott-Larsen.
Monroe Public Schools’ Board of Education adopted the “Girls’ Athletic Participation and Facilities Use” policy at its Oct. 13, 2026 meeting; the policy limits district girls’ sports participation and use of facilities such as locker rooms to biological females1 (Monroe News, Oct. 14; CBS Detroit). Board President Tom Heck voted yes and argued that transgender girls are stronger and their participation creates an unfair playing field2.
On Oct. 15, Sen. Marsha Blackburn called it excellent news: 'A Michigan school board has stood up for female athletes and voted to keep girls' sports for girls.' Blackburn added: 'We won’t back down from this fight, and the left’s radical gender ideology won’t stand a chance.'3
“We won’t back down from this fight, and the left’s radical gender ideology won’t stand a chance.”
The rule covers teams and locker rooms
The rule covers the two places a girl's season is decided: the field where she competes and the locker room where she changes. The test is biological sex for both, and the board wrote it into policy. That line matters because the state association has already granted exceptions: the Michigan High School Athletic Association approved two waivers in 2024-25 allowing trans girls to compete on girls' teams2.
A waiver is a decision one office can grant. Monroe's written policy is a rule a family can read before the next game.
The ACLU invokes Michigan’s civil-rights law
The ACLU of Michigan wants that rule gone. Jay Kaplan, an attorney with the group's LGBTQ+ project, says the policy breaks state law, and he cites the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Kaplan also says a Trump administration executive order backing the district cannot override Michigan's civil-rights laws1. That executive order is 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,' signed Feb. 5, 2025, and it sets federal policy to rescind funds from educational programs that allow males to compete in women's sports4.
72% / 75%: of voters say biological males should not compete in women’s sports (75% no), and 72% back making it illegal to give minors puberty blockers, drugs or surgery to transition (Napolitan News/RMG, Nov. 2024).
of voters say biological males should not compete in women’s sports (75% no), and 72% back making it illegal to give minors puberty blockers, drugs or surgery to transition (Napolitan News/RMG, Nov. 2024). From the report: “Should biological males who identify as women be allowed to participate in women’s sports events?” Note: Poll values are from the report’s chart (No 75 / Yes 13 / Not sure 11; Yes 72 / No 18 / Not sure 10).
Board Secretary Mary Vincent, who voted no, says the district should provide equitable access for transgender athletes. Read the ACLU's way, a gender-identity standard erases the sex line that created girls' teams in the first place, so why have a girls' team at all? The U.S. Supreme Court has already said states may draw that line, ruling in June that states have a right to ban transgender girls from girls' sports. Michigan has no statewide ban of its own, so the fight over this rule runs through a single civil-rights act2.
Parents need clear rules before competition
Sean Lechner's federal suit, filed Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that Monroe's athletic director violated federal Title IX regulations. It says he failed to inform parents or players that Ann Arbor Skyline's roster included a transgender girl2. Lechner put his position plainly: 'As a father, I will not remain silent.'5
The suit also aims to keep the district from reversing that policy1. Lechner's attorney, Richard Thompson of the Thomas More Law Center, warned that the board could reverse the policy: 'Just because they changed the policy last night doesn't mean they can't change the policy again.' A policy a board can vote away at its next meeting needs a court behind it.
State leaders must defend sex-based boundaries
Monroe's board has to hold the line it drew, and Washington is already watching. In June, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened investigations into Ann Arbor, Monroe and Chippewa Valley schools over their sports and locker-room policies. The ACLU of Michigan says it planned to look into the matter2.
Monroe parents should tell their board to defend this policy and back the Lechner family's case in federal court in Detroit. Lansing should write the same sex-based boundary into Michigan law and take the Elliott-Larsen argument off the table. Girls' teams and girls' locker rooms are for girls, and Monroe has shown the state how to say so.
Sources
- Monroe Public Schools adopts new policy banning transgender females from girls sports - CBS Detroit
- Monroe schools' ban on trans girls in girls sports illegal, says ACLU
- @MarshaBlackburn on X, 2026-10-15: This is excellent news! A Michigan school board has stood up for female athletes and voted to keep girls' sports for girls. We won’t back down from this fight, and the left’s radical gender ideology won’t stand a chance. https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/ne, 2026-10-15
- Federal Register, 90 FR 9279
- 16-Year-Old Female Athlete Files Federal Lawsuit Under Title IX and U.S. Constitution to Defend Her Rights to Play on Girls Sports Teams Without Being Forced to Compete with Biological Males - Thomas More Law Center
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