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EXCLUSIVE: A group of teenage girls sue the state of Oregon over its laws, allowing trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
Two of the girls said they made the decision to file the trial after witnessing the viral feud between Riley Gaines and Simone Biles in June.
Maddie Eischen and Sophia Carpenter first entered the national match when they refused to compete against a trans athlete at the Chehalem Classic back on April 18. They told Pakinomist Digital that Gaines reached them shortly after their perdition and urged them to consider bringing a lawsuit against the state.
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Oregon Girls’ Track and Field Athlete Maddie Eischen. (With the permission of Maddie Eischen)
Then, after seeing the fall of Gaines’ online clash with Biles, Eischen and Carpenter were convinced to file a case.
“I think especially when Riley Gaines and Simone Biles, and it all happened, and kind of to see how it played out and how the public reacted, I think it was encouraging to see how many people are on the side of protecting women’s sports,” Carpenter said.
Eischen remembers the public reaction she looked at both Biles and Gaines when the War War started between the two women. Eischen especially remembers to see the comments on Biles’ recent Instagram post that night.
“All the comments about Simone’s posts were very negative to her, I saw people commenting it and I liked it. But there was a lot of shock she had even said it, and disappointment,” Eischen said.
The feud started when Biles questioned Gaines and called a Minnesota High School If Softball Team won a State Championship Friday with a cross -cut pitcher. Gaines noted that comments on X were off the Minnesota State High School League’s post with a photo of the team on social media.
Biles answered and called Gaines “Really Sick,” then later sent another post on X to tell Gaines to “bully someone your own size, which ironically would be a man.”
Shortly after, millions of users of social media around the world chimged in.
Carpenter agreed that she saw people in her social circles, which did not often discuss the topic of trans athletes in women’s and girls’ sports, suddenly enter the conversation.
“Your average American … I think many people are not so much aware of this problem, and I think that with it with the whole of Simone Biles and Riley Gaines, with all the fall it certainly brought more attention,” Carpenter said. “It kept it in the news cycle, it kept people looking and saying ‘Hello, there is this question in girls’ sports that happens much more than people think it is.'”
Oregon Girls’ Track and Field Athlete Sophia Carpenter. (Courtesy of Sophia Carpenter)
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Biles later released an apology for his comments about Gaines, writing “It didn’t help me to become personal with Riley.” Days later Biles Biles Her X account completely deleted, but the effect of the exchange left her mark, especially on Carpenter and Eischen.
“It was almost backstabbing in a way,” Carpenter said.
Eischen added, “I certainly don’t look up to her the same way I did.”
Above all else, Feud helped cement teens’ decision to launch their lawsuit against the state. The trial is led by the legal lawyer group America First Policy Institute.
“The America First Policy Institute is proud to stand with brave young women in Oregon and to fil for this trial to hold state officials responsible for having violated their sex -based rights under section IX,” the America First Policy Institute General Advocate Jessica Hart Steinmann said in a statement provided to Pakinomist Digital.
“Female athletes deserve justice, security and equal opportunities – not a system that sacrifices their rights in favor of radical ideology. This case is about restoring the original promise of title IX and sending a clear message: The law still protects women.”
In court documents obtained by Pakinomist Digital, the plaintiffs outline the experience of navigating a girls’ sports season while dealing with biological male competitors, emphasizing their April forfeation at Chehalem Classic.
“Before [Carpenter] The psychological and emotional weight of that moment became overwhelming – she felt helpless, demoralized and betrayed by the institutions and adults accused of protecting her equal opportunities for fair play. In the end, she realized that she was unable to participate in the height of that day and withdrew from the event, “the trial claims.
Both Carpenter and Eischen previously told Pakinomist Digital that the experience was “traumatic.”
“My experience at the Chehalem track meets and scraping myself from the meeting was traumatic, something I had never imagined I would ever do,” Eischen said.
Carpenter added, “It was emotionally traumatic to try to know what to do and how to answer to compete with [the trans athlete]”
Carpenter said she found herself so overwhelmed with feelings from the experience that she cried on the trip home after the meeting. Despite being confronted with “fear” of potential retaliation for filing a lawsuit, the two girls are officially in it and charges ahead with a legal battle that can get plenty of national attention.
Eischen is fighting this legal battle as she is ready to begin her collegial athletic career as a woman’s basketball player at Oregon Tech, starting in the fall.
Meanwhile, Carpenter returns to end his high school sports career at Newberg High School later this year. Her high school is listed as one of the defendants in the trial.
“I want to stand by it, even when setbacks come,” Carpenter said.
Pakinomist Digital has reached the Oregon Department of Education and Newberg High School for Comment.
