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Had ‘engaged in self-harm’ and wanted to kill himself
A biological male sued the Philadelphia-adjacent Swarthmore College this past week for not allowing him to run on the women’s track team.
Evelyn “Evie” Parts, who began hormone replacement therapy as a high school junior and is listed as “female” on his birth certificate, social security card and driver’s license, had run on Swarthmore’s women’s team since 2020, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He even was named captain of the (women’s) track team in the fall of 2024.
But after the NCAA “barred transgender women from competing in varsity sports” based on President Trump’s executive order, Parts was informed he must run on the men’s team … or “unattached to the college.”
According to the lawsuit, Swarthmore eventually “fully reinstated” Parts (pictured, below) on the women’s team after he retained an attorney. Swarthmore Associate Director of Athletics Valerie Gomez allegedly had “acknowledged the stress” Parts endured by not being allowed to run with women.
Parts allegedly had “commenced engaging in self-harm” by cutting himself, and informed a friend he contemplated suicide.
The suit also notes part of an email Gomez sent to the NCAA stating “many of us vehemently disagree with this transgender ban.”
“The damage — emotional and otherwise that this causes some of our student-athletes is immeasurable and unfair,” Gomez wrote.
Parts’ lawsuit further alleges Swarthmore “disregard[ed] federal and state law” and “regulations enacted by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission [that] bar discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”
MORE: Parents of transgender female track athlete: ‘cruel’ to make him run against boys
The NCAA is named as a defendant for showing a “reckless indifference to Evie’s rights as a woman” and “illegally depriv[ing] h[im] of equal opportunity.”
According to the lawsuit, administrators told Parts that their counsel “could not find any way that federal or Pennsylvania state law superseded the NCAA ban on transgender athletes.” …
“We stand by the allegations in the complaint,” Parts’ lawyer, Susan Cirelli, said Friday. “The NCAA is a private organization that issued a bigoted policy. Swarthmore College chose to follow that policy and disregard federal and state law.”
Spokespeople for Swarthmore did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The NCAA national office declined to comment.
The lawsuit alleges that Swarthmore knew it was discriminating against Parts. Her sibling, Winter Parts, a nonbinary runner who had also raced for Swarthmore, individually called school administrators to advocate for their sister’s well-being, according to the complaint.
In addition to the college, Gomez, and the NCAA, Swarthmore Women’s Track Coach Peter Carroll, Athletic Director Brad Koch, and Athletics Official Christina Epps-Chiazor are named as defendants in the suit, the Associated Press reports.
In a statement, Swarthmore said “We recognize that this is an especially difficult and painful time for members of the transgender community, including student-athletes. We worked to support Evie Parts in a time of rapidly evolving guidance, while balancing the ability for other members of the women’s track team to compete in NCAA events.”
The AP notes Sadie Schreiner, another male who competed in women’s collegiate track, is suing Princeton University for an alleged “humiliating, dehumanizing and dignity-stripping ordeal” after it forbade him from participating in a May (women’s) running event.
In an Instagram video from late last year, Schreiner complained how half the states in the country don’t allow men to compete against women: “Trans people are actively getting attacked right now, and our rights are getting stripped away, and those in power are either endorsing this or they’re just letting this happen.”
MORE: Male runner breaks two women’s track and field records for New York college
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: An attorney and client at trial; vchal/Shutterstock.com. INTERIOR IMAGE: Swarthmore Athletics
