Santa Rosa Junior College players Brielle Galli, and sisters Madison Shaw and Gracie Shaw, filed the complaint in an effort to force the school to boot the male volleyball player, Ximena Gomez. Gomez (pictured below) is listed on the team roster as a 5-foot, 10-inch middle blocker.
The junior college is home to approximately 22,300 students. The campus is located in Sonoma County, about 50 miles north of San Francisco.
Sophia Lorey, outreach coordinator at California Family Council, is following the story closely after learning about the federal complaint and interviewing the three female athletes.
"They don't like having a male on their team. They think it's unfair and unsafe, to which the coach really offered them no hope,” Lorey tells AFN.
What led to the Title IX complaint, Lorey says, was when Gracie Shaw sustained a concussion during practice from a spiked ball sent flying by Gomez.
That team injury was the second concussion caused by Gomez, the two sisters recently told Fox News. A second female teammate, sophomore Kiana Walker, was hurt by Gomez during a practice last year, they said.
Despite those two injuries, the two sisters and Galli allege their Santa Rosa volleyball coach, and the school’s athletic director, have sided with Gomez and threatened them with punishment.
According to Madison Shaw (pictured below), she wanted to explain her views about Gomez to fellow teammates in an organized huddle, but the volleyball coach refused to let her do so. In a text message to the teen, she said, the coach claimed the female teammate needed to “respect” Gomez’s privacy.
Gracie Shaw told Fox News the coach also cancelled a weightlifting class, and interfered in a planned Zoom call with fellow teammates, for the same reason.
In a statement to Fox News, Santa Rosa Junior College stated it is “committed to fostering an inclusive and support environment” and said the school is in compliance with the California Community College Athletic Association.
The young women’s Title IX complaint goes to the U.S. Department of Education, where it will find allies there in the Civil Rights Division. In June, the Trump administration announced the California Dept. of Education is violating Title IX with its transgender policy that protects male athletes.
That ruling gave the State of California a 10-day deadline to comply, which it refused to do and set off a legal standoff over federal funds.
The same Title IX ruling and deadline were imposed on two more states, Maine and Minnesota, which have also refused to comply.
In Minnesota, where a trans softball pitcher led his female team to a state championship, 253 school board members signed a letter urging the state to comply with the Trump administration and protect the privacy of females. "Protecting fairness in women’s sports is paramount," that letter reads in part.
Lorey, who herself has emerged as a vocal voice for California's female athletes, says girls and women “up and down” the state should file Title IX complaints
“We need to overload the Trump administration with Title IX complaints,” she says, “so they can really see how many girls are struggling, how many girls are being affected."
