Michigan father sues school after trans athlete was allowed to play

A father in Monroe County is suing a school district over a volleyball game. His daughter played in the game, but the dad says parents were not informed about everyone on the court. Fox News Lauren Edwards is live in Detroit where she spoke with the family's attorney. Lauren, what's this all about? Amy, I can tell you there's so much to this one. There's so many moving parts and also it's more than just about the volleyball game. It's about who was on the court, who knew what, when. Let's unpack it all. Let's get into all the details of what happened. Now, the 67-page civil rights complaint filed last week, October 9th, in U.S. District Court here in Detroit. It alleges that Monroe Public Schools, the Michigan High School Athletic Association and school leaders violated Title IX back on September 9th, 2025, when Monroe required its varsity girls volleyball team to play against Ann Arbor's Skyline High School, which had a transgender female or a biological male on the team. Another violation and area of concern. It alleges that Monroe didn't tell parents there was a transgender female in the game. Behind the lawsuit is father Sean Lechner, who says that his daughter played in the game in that game for Monroe. And attorney Richard Thompson says Lechner believes school officials knew beforehand that there was a transgender female on Skyline's team in the game and later in the locker room. Thompson says it's the school's responsibility to notify parents before the teams took the court. It's not required by law at this point, other than the fact that if you are an athletic director and you're going to put your team in a competition, you ought to let your team members know that there's going to be a male on that team. And there's injuries that occur. There are documented injuries that occur where females got hit. They have mental problems because of the strength that they get hit with the ball, etc. You have an obligation because you are still, you replace the parent. Now Fox 2 reached out to Monroe Public Schools. They provided this statement, quote, Monroe Public Schools is aware of recent reports regarding an alleged federal lawsuit. Though the district has not been served with any lawsuit, we remain steadfast in our commitment to adhering to all state and federal guidelines and laws while upholding student safety. Should legal proceedings be initiated, the district will address the matter through the appropriate legal channels. We also heard from the Michigan High School Athletic Association providing this quote, excuse me, the statement quote, For many years, MHSAA policy in this area has been crafted to be fully compliant with federal and state law. We believe the claims made are legally unsound and we will defend that position through the legal process due to the ongoing litigation. We will have no further comment at this time. Now, again, there's a lot of moving parts to this story. Please stick with Fox 2 as it continues to develop. For now, reporting live here in Detroit, Lauren Edwards, Fox 2 News. Okay, Lauren, so the attorney who is suing on behalf of this family admits in that soundbite we just heard that there was no law against doing what they did. And that's one of the questions that I asked and wanted to emphasize that he says it's not a law, but he believes it's a responsibility. It's an obligation of the school to notify parents about this transgender athlete as well. But I just want to emphasize to all of our viewers that this is going to continue to develop. So please stick with Fox 2 as it does. Okay, yep, could be an interesting test case. Thanks so much, Lauren Edwards.