A Michigan school board voted to keep biological males out of girls' sports and locker rooms after a teen athlete said she had no idea one shared her facilities.
The Monroe Public Schools Board of Education approved a new policy called “Girl's Athletic Participation and Facilities Use,” restricting both girls’ athletics and girls’ locker rooms to biological females as listed on the birth certificate at the time of birth.
Superintendent Andrew Shaw told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday email that the board passed the measure 4 yes to 2 no, with one member absent. The policy covers only Monroe Public Schools and does not bind visiting teams.
The vote follows a federal lawsuit filed Oct. 9 by Monroe High School varsity volleyball player Briley Lechner and her father, Sean Lechner. The Thomas More Law Center announced the case, which raises Title IX and constitutional claims against Monroe Public Schools, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, and school officials.
The dispute centers on a Sept. 9, 2025, volleyball match against Ann Arbor’s Skyline High School. The lawsuit alleges school officials knowingly concealed that the opposing team would include a biological male identifying as transgender.
Briley Lechner later said she unknowingly shared a locker room with that athlete. In an Oct. 15 interview, she described the shock of learning the truth only after the fact.
Briley Lechner said:
"What's very scary is that the day that this happened, I had no clue that there was a boy on the other team,"
She framed the case in plain terms of privacy, safety, and equal competition for female athletes.
Briley Lechner said:
"Our family loves and respect everyone, regardless of our differences. This has always been about my privacy, my safety, and fair play. Nothing more, nothing less."
She also pressed the broader point that girls should not have to litigate for basic protections on the court or in the locker room.
Briley Lechner said:
"Every female athlete deserves to have her rights respected and protected. Boys do NOT belong in girls’ locker rooms or girls’ sports. Every girl deserves to feel safe, respected, and protected, both in the locker room and on the court. We should NEVER have to fight for that."
Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the approved policy language. It is short and direct.
The policy states:
"Participation in girl's athletics at Monroe Public Schools shall be restricted to biological females as documented on the birth certificate at the time of birth. Access to and use of girl's athletic facilities (locker rooms) shall follow the same restriction."
Shaw confirmed the board’s action and his duty to carry it out.
Andrew Shaw said:
"The Board of Education approved a new policy with a vote of 4 yes and 2 no with one board member absent,"
He added that his job is to implement what the board sets, and he stressed again that the rule applies only inside Monroe Public Schools, not to visiting schools.
That limit matters. Visiting teams can still field biological males under other districts’ rules. Monroe’s own athletes and facilities now operate under a sex-based standard rooted in the birth record.
Sean Lechner welcomed the board’s move but refused to treat it as the end of the fight. He noted it took nearly a year to reach this point and warned the policy could still be reversed.
Sean Lechner said:
"The new policy may be watered down, but it's an incremental victory for my daughter and every female athlete. It's shameful it took nearly a year to get here but we still have work to do. Who's to say they can't change it again? Regardless of how some try to twist the narrative, this has ALWAYS been about my daughter's privacy, safety, and fair play. Nothing more, nothing less!"
Since the lawsuit became public, he said he and his daughter have faced more harassing and threatening messages. He cast his role in simple parental terms.
Sean Lechner said the pressure has not changed his duty:
"Since our lawsuit was announced, my daughter and I have received even more harassing and threatening messages. But at the heart of everything I'm doing is something simple, being a father, being a parent, and loving my daughter enough to stand beside her when she needs me most."
He also urged other parents to put common sense and protection of their children first, saying he never wants his daughter to ask why he failed to stand up for her.
The federal lawsuit remains active even after the board vote. It names Monroe Public Schools, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, and school officials, and it rests on Title IX and constitutional claims tied to the September match and the locker-room exposure.
Title IX is the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funds. The Lechners argue that forcing girls to compete against and undress near biological males undercuts the very protections the statute was written to secure.
Monroe’s new rule does not resolve that lawsuit. It does set a clear local standard: eligibility for girls’ sports and girls’ locker rooms turns on biological sex recorded at birth, not later identity claims.
Shaw’s statement left no ambiguity about scope. The policy is Monroe’s alone. Opposing schools remain free to field biological males. That gap is why the family and its lawyers continue to press the broader case against the athletic association and district officials.
For female athletes in Monroe, the immediate result is concrete. Their own teams and locker rooms are now reserved for biological females. For every other girl who faces the same surprise Briley Lechner described, the question is whether other boards and athletic bodies will draw the same line, or keep forcing teenagers to discover the truth only after they have already shared a locker room.
Parents who want their daughters to compete on a fair field and change in private should not need a year of litigation and a stack of threatening messages to get a basic sex-based rule on the books.
