A group of school districts, led by District 49, has reached a settlement with the organization overseeing high school sports in Colorado, an agreement the districts are calling a victory for female athletes.
The settlement allows District 49 and its co-plaintiffs to maintain separate sports teams, locker rooms, and overnight travel accommodations for boys and girls based on their biological sex while remaining in full standing with the Colorado High School Activities Association.
In exchange, the districts dismiss their claims against the sports association known as CHSAA and agree to pay the association $60,000 to help cover its operational and legal costs from the lawsuit.
The CHSAA settlement is the first significant development in a broad lawsuit over state rules and the association’s bylaws on transgender participation in high school sports.
Colorado law and CHSAA bylaws require schools to allow students to play on sports teams and use facilities that match their gender identity, not their sex at birth.
The lawsuit’s claims against the commissioners of the Colorado Civil Rights Division and Colorado Attorney General Phillip Weiser will still move forward. The case could have implications for school sports across the state.
Key terms of the agreement
A central component of the settlement is that plaintiff schools — which include Colorado Springs School District 11 and Academy School District 20 — will not face CHSAA-imposed penalties or sanctions for policies that classify sports teams and facilities based on biological sex or for rules on competing against transgender athletes. The districts can also now avoid CHSAA-imposed penalties for enforcing these policies in an effort to comply with Title IX.
CHSAA also agrees that adopting or enforcing such policies will not be treated as unsportsmanlike conduct, gross misconduct, or an ethics violation under its sportsmanship rules.
The settlement shields public statements that biological males have competitive or safety advantages in girls' sports from being classified as violations of CHSAA's ethics or sportsmanship rules. This protection applies as long as the statements do not advocate violence or demean individuals beyond the scope of the policy debates.
CHSAA’s bylaws don’t deal with locker rooms, bathrooms, or other intimate spaces by students, which allows districts to determine their own rules.
Plaintiffs and opponents react
District 49 sees the deal as a significant win for what it describes as fairness, safety, and privacy for female athletes and as an important step in restoring local control and upholding federal protections for female athletes.
“CHSAA deserves credit for doing the right thing,” said Peter Hilts, superintendent of District 49. “By reaching this agreement, they’ve recognized the need to protect fairness in competition and privacy in school facilities for our female athletes. We appreciate their willingness to engage in thoughtful dialogue and reach a resolution that puts students first.”
Rep. Jeff Crank issued a statement on X.
“Biological men NEVER belong in biological women’s sports, period,” he wrote. “The Colorado High School Activities Association finally made the right decision and will STOP penalizing school districts that protect women’s sports.”
CHSAA and its attorneys could not be immediately reached for comment. The attorney general’s office had no comment on the litigation.
One Colorado, an advocacy and education organization for LGBTQ+ Coloradans, was disappointed with the settlement. In a statement, it said every child deserves the opportunity to play sports on a team that aligns with who they are as a matter of fairness, dignity, safety and the well-being of young people.
Advocates have argued that sports give children the chance to learn discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship, and how to care for their bodies, and that the opportunities should be available to all kids, including transgender youth.
“Excluding any child, especially transgender children, from participating in sports in ways that affirm and uplift them represents a profound failure of adults to protect, support, and nurture the young people in our community,” said a spokesperson for One Colorado.“Transgender children are children, and they deserve the same respect, compassion, and encouragement that we extend to every other young person.”
District 49 policy and the lawsuit that followed
In May, District 49’s school board adopted a controversial policy that classifies all school sports teams by “biological sex” and bans student athletes from playing on teams or sharing locker rooms and hotel rooms with students different from the gender they were assigned at birth.
The district says the policy preserves fair competition for girls and protects student privacy in intimate spaces. It also contends the new policy complies with federal equal protection laws and a February Trump administration executive order directing schools to preserve single-sex sports. It threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports.
The districts filed their federal lawsuit the next day, challenging Colorado state laws and CHSAA bylaws that required schools to allow transgender student-athletes to participate on teams matching their gender identity.
The complaint says the state’s rules forced the district to choose between following federal obligations — risking state investigations, fines, or athletic suspension — or complying with state law and CHSAA rules and jeopardizing federal funding and students’ constitutional rights.
It argues that requiring transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports or share girls’ locker rooms constitutes sex discrimination against female students and violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX, which governs nondiscrimination based on sex in education.
The plaintiffs want the court to declare Colorado’s civil rights law and CHSAA bylaws unconstitutional on the matter of who can compete on boys' and girls' sports teams.
