LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Joseph Bellino joined four area state representatives on Monday at the Monroe County Courthouse to voice their support for a local parent who has filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education about a biological male competing in Southeast Michigan high school girls volleyball matches.
“Every girl deserves a fair opportunity to compete in high school sports, and every parent deserves to know their kids are being protected — both in the game and in the locker room,” said Bellino, R-Monroe. “In this case, girls at Monroe High School had to play against a male athlete from another school and were forced to share a restroom and locker room with the teenage boy.
“This is a clear example of the schools and the Michigan High School Athletic Association failing to do their job to provide a safe environment for female athletes, protect opportunities for girls and ensure a level playing field.”
Monroe High School parent Sean Lechner submitted a formal complaint regarding alleged failures by Ann Arbor Public Schools’ Skyline High School, Monroe Public Schools’ Monroe High School and MHS Athletic Director Chet Hesson. The complaint outlines repeated failures to comply with safety protocols; withholding critical information; and disregarding student privacy, competitive fairness, MHSAA regulations and federal Title IX requirements.
The complaint says Hesson knowingly required Lechner’s daughter and her teammates to share a locker room and restroom with a biological male from the opposing team on Sept. 9 and failed to inform MHS players and parents of the situation, even though he was told the day before the match by the Ann Arbor Skyline High School athletic director that a male athlete would be on the opposing team. The complaint argues this constituted a violation of privacy and bodily integrity protections under Title IX.
On Feb. 5, President Donald Trump issued an executive order designed to “protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports” and said allowing “men to compete in women’s sports” is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”
In March, Bellino wrote to MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl urging the organization to reconsider its decision to keep allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports despite Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order.
“As a father to three daughters and a grandfather to seven grandchildren, this issue is personal for me,” Bellino said. “Allowing biological men to participate in girls’ sports is unfair and plain wrong. We must follow the science, like we’ve been told for years. We must stand with our female student-athletes.”
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