Girl wrestler can grapple on boys' school team, judge rules
A seventh grade Pennsylvania girl will be allowed to join her school’s all-male wrestling team after a federal judge today ruled in her favor.
A seventh grade Pennsylvania girl will be allowed to join her school's all-male wrestling team after a federal judge today ruled in her favor.
Audrianna Beattie, 14, has grappled as a competitive wrestler with both boys and girls since the third grade. But when her family moved from Iowa to the Line Mountain School district, about 30 miles north of Harrisburg, she was told the district's policy expressly prohibited girls from joining the team.
Beattie's father went to the Line Mountain school board to argue his daughter's case, only to be rebuffed and told that girls were prohibited to play on contact sport teams with boys.
He challenged the district directors a second time in April. The board president, Troy Laudenslager, refused to budge and said that Line Mountain parents and competing schools' which "would be forced to be uncomfortable or forfeit" if a girl were allowed on the team.
"There's a lot that could be awkward," Laudenslager told newsitem.com.
In October, the Beatties filed a civil rights suit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania claiming the district was discriminating on the basis of sex in violation of the 14th Amendment and in violation of the Equal Rights Amendment of the state constitution.
The Beatties obtained a temporary restraining order in November that required Line Mountain to allow Audriana to wrestle.
During a November hearing, school board members doubled down in their contention that having a girl on the team would send the boys "mixed messages."
Other board members expressed concerns that girls could be easily injured and worried about the potential sexual implications of a girl being mauled by a boy on the mats.
More telling, another board member said boys would not be able to withstand their classmates' taunts if they were pinned by a girl.
Today, a judge granted a motion for a preliminary injunction.
The girl's attorneys, Terry Fromson of the Women's Law Project and Abbe F. Fletman of Flaster/Greenberg PC issued a statement celebrating the decision late this afternoon.
"Audriana is looking forward to continuing to practice and compete with the team, something she is very good at and has been practicing for more four years," Fletman said.