SALT LAKE CITY — A federal appeals court has revived part of a lawsuit against three Utah school districts over girls' football.
In a ruling handed down recently, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a Title IX lawsuit filed by seven girls who sued the Granite, Jordan and Canyons school districts over their refusal to form girls' football teams.
Among the plaintiffs is Sam Gordon, who gained fame for viral videos that showed her as a teen playing football against boys and beating them. Gordon, BayLee Simmons, Lauren Dixon, Madelyn Calchera, Isabella Calchera, Delainee Robison, and Isabella Nogales accused the districts of failing to provide equal participation opportunities as mandated by the federal law that covers gender discrimination.
A lower court judge rejected their lawsuit, which led to the Denver-based appeals court taking it up. In an order, the judge declared the girls did not have standing to pursue their individual claims further because they have all since graduated high school. However, the 10th Circuit Court also found the lower court applied a wrong standard when it came to the issue of class certification.
"On the Title IX claims, the district court erred by denying class certification. In denying certification, the court relied on variations between schools. But the element at issue — commonality — required the presence of only a single legal or factual issue in common among members of the class. And here, each class member shared a factual issue involving the reasonableness of an expectation of competition. So we reverse and remand the Title IX claims for reconsideration of commonality and the other requirements for class certification," wrote Judge Robert Bacharach.
The case now goes back to the lower-court for reconsideration. It means that the plaintiffs could potentially represent current or future girls within those districts who seek to play football.
"The Tenth Circuit’s ruling reflects the simple principle that every young woman is harmed when institutions like our public schools provide disproportionately fewer resources to girls than to boys. We look forward to bringing our claims representing a class of all the girls in the school districts and not merely the handful of courageous girls who were standing up as representatives of the class," said Loren Washburn, one of the plaintiff's attorneys, in a statement to FOX 13 News. "We will be relentless in litigating this case until the school districts do the simple and right thing and comply with federal law requiring them to provide the same number of athletic opportunities to girls that they provide to boys."
In a statement to FOX 13 News, Gordon said she was ready to resume the litigation.
"Football is the most popular high school sport yet it is the only sport that is offered to boys for which a separate girls team is not offered. We will continue to fight for the basic idea that girls should be provided with the same athletic participation opportunities as boys," she said.
A message left with the Utah Attorney General's Office, representing the school districts in the litigation, was not immediately returned on Monday.
