Michigan Volleyball Player and Her Dad Sue School District Over Trans Opponent

Briley has been on Monroe High School’s Varsity girls’ volleyball team since ninth grade.

The lawsuit alleges that school officials knowingly concealed from the Monroe High School girls’ volleyball team and their parents that the September 9, 2025, match with Ann Arbor’s Skyline High School would involve a biological male (transgender female).

“My goal is to preserve opportunities and safety for female athletes, ensuring that sports remain a space where girls can compete fairly, achieve their potential, and feel safe," Briley said in a statement.

The complaint further alleges that school officials attempted to justify their conduct, rejected the Plaintiffs’ formal Title IX discrimination complaint, and then deprived plaintiffs of a meaningful administrative appeal.

Briley’s father added, “Our daughters should never have to stand alone while the adults entrusted to protect them stay silent.  As a father, I will not remain silent.”

The complaint says that on September 9, 2025, Monroe High School’s girls’ volleyball team competed against Ann Arbor Skyline High School, which included a biological male or a transgender female.

“This lawsuit is about much more than a single volleyball game,” said Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.  “It’s about whether public school officials can, with deliberative indifference, knowingly sacrifice the rights of female athletes to accommodate a biological male athlete, conceal that decision from the girls and their parents, and then evade accountability under federal law and the U.S. Constitution.”

Monroe’s Athletic Director, Chet Hesson, and school coaching personnel knew about the opposing player’s biological sex a day before the competition but did not disclose that fact to Monroe’s female athletes or their parents.

The complaint further alleges that without informing Monroe’s athletes, the biological male was permitted to use intimate locker room facilities designated for Monroe’s female athletes.

The lawsuit challenges the district’s administration of its girls’ athletic program under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Title IX was enacted to protect girls and women from sex discrimination in education,” Thompson stated. “It was not enacted to allow school officials to disregard the very distinctions that make equal athletic opportunities for girls possible.”

The resulting determination by Superintendent Shaw and the Monroe District Board of Directors characterized the allegations as “unsubstantiated.”

The Complaint challenges both the District’s response and the constitutionality of the procedures employed in reaching that determination.

According to the Complaint, critical portions of the investigation, including witness identities and their statements, were withheld from plaintiffs, impairing their ability to meaningfully challenge the District’s conclusions.

The lawsuit also challenges the conduct of the Monroe Public Schools Board of Education.

Under the District’s established procedures, the Board was responsible for considering the plaintiffs’ appeal of the Superintendent’s determination and vote on it at open session.

Instead, according to the Complaint, Board members discussed the matter in closed session and subsequently adjourned without publicly deciding the merits of the appeal.

The District thereafter claimed the Superintendent’s determination of “unsubstantiated” was affirmed by the Board because no one voted on it.

“The Board of Education was supposed to provide an independent review of the plaintiffs’ complaint,” Thompson said.  “Instead, the plaintiffs’ appeal was subjected to a parliamentary maneuver in which the Board refused to decide the very issues it was responsible for reviewing and deciding.  A right to appeal means little if the officials responsible for deciding the appeal simply refuse to act.”

My dad and I filed a federal lawsuit this week, and I want to explain it in my own words. Last September, my varsity team played a match without being told who we would be competing against, and our lawsuit says the adults in charge knew a day ahead of time and kept it from us and from our parents. I believe girls deserve to know the truth before they step into the locker room, and not after. Thank you to everyone who has supported our family, and to Thomas More Law Center for taking our case.

— Briley Lechner (@BrileyLechner) October 16, 2026

Another lawsuit from a female athlete refusing to compete with a man in her sport has been filed in Michigan 👏🏼 This is the way. #SaveWomensSports https://t.co/qyy5fvrLNc

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 12, 2026

BREAKING: The parents of Briley Lechner, a HS athlete at Monroe Public Schools in Michigan, filed a FEDERAL LAWSUIT against the district for Title IX violations. The lawsuit claims the district failed to notify parents that the opposing girls’ volleyball team had a male player pretending to be a girl, despite already knowing about the player. Briley’s team ended up LOSING that game 3-0. MALES DO NOT BELONG IN FEMALE SPORTS

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 15, 2026

Briley stood up for Title IX and for girls' sports and locker rooms in Michigan, and now she is dealing with harassing messages online. I just heard from Briley's dad that she is now receiving harassing messages on Snapchat, and my heart hurts for her. She is a teenager who has been willing to stand up for the safety and fairness of girls' sports and locker rooms, and she has done it with more courage than many adults could manage. She should be celebrated for that, and instead she is being targeted by people who would rather silence her than listen. Share your words of encouragement below so she can see how many people believe in her.

— Scarlett Johnson (@scarlett4kids) October 16, 2026