The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating allegations that a transgender wrestler tried to sexually assault a female rival during a girls’ high school wrestling match in Puyallup, Washington.
Kallie Keeler, a 16-year-old student at Rogers High School, says a biological male who identifies as female pressed fingers against her vagina during a Dec. 6 match against Emerald Ridge High School.
A video shows Kallie looking toward her mother, who was recording, as the transgender wrestler reaches between her legs.
Kallie later said she was trying to mouth a message to her mother: “Her fingers are in my [vagina],” according to Brandi Kruse, host of the Seattle-based unDivided podcast, who broke the story.
“That never happened in all the years I’ve wrestled,” Kallie said in the Feb. 9 podcast interview. “I was just kind of like, what the heck, I didn’t really know what to do or how to handle that situation. I just wanted the match to be over.”
She said she allowed her opponent to pin her, then immediately told her mother what happened and sought out her coach to report the incident.
Only then did a coach from another team tell her that her opponent was a biological male. Until that point, Kallie said she believed she was wrestling a biological female.
“They wanted to tell me that it was a biological boy that I was wrestling,” said Kallie. “I was, like, really shocked at first. I didn’t know what to think of it because high school wrestling — it’s a women’s wrestling team.”
Federal Investigation And District Response
The coach appeared to take the allegation seriously and promised in a Dec. 8 email to investigate and report back.
Kallie’s parents said they never heard back. After unDivided asked the district for comment on Jan. 29, the district reported the incident on Jan. 30 to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
The federal investigation is examining whether the Puyallup School District violated Title IX by allowing the transgender student to compete in the girls’ category and use girls’ locker room facilities.
Investigators are also reviewing the district’s delay in responding to the assault allegation.
“The allegations in this case are sickening — that a female athlete was not only unknowingly forced to compete against a male in a girls-only division placing her at increased risk for sexual assault, but that her report of sexual assault during the match was ignored by Puyallup School District for months,” said Assistant Secretary Kimberly Richey.
“We will continue to vigorously enforce Title IX to ensure that women and girls have safe, equal access to educational programs and opportunities, and that allegations of sexual assault are addressed promptly and fully,” she said in a Friday statement.
The district said it cannot discuss specific details because of legal obligations to protect student privacy. It added that the matter is currently under investigation.
“What we can say is that student safety is a top priority and that all reports involving student safety are taken seriously,” the district said in a statement to KOMO-TV. The transgender athlete has not commented publicly on the allegation.
Kallie said she chose to speak publicly after a dozen girls at Emerald Ridge High School complained about two biological males in their locker room, including the wrestler.
“I just think that boys shouldn’t be allowed in women’s sports, whether they identify as female or not,” she said. “They can identify as whatever, but in sports, especially strength-based sports, I feel like they need to compete in their gender-assigned sport.”
The federal and criminal investigations come as debate over transgender athletes continues in Washington state. A proposed initiative requiring students to compete based on sex at birth has gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association currently allows transgender students to participate in girls’ sports under the state’s civil rights law, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
Featured image credit: X/@BrandiKruse
