Michigan dad begs Trump to 'act swiftly' after daughter shares locker room with trans athlete

MONROE, MICHIGAN: On a frosty Monday in Michigan, a frustrated dad grabbed the mic at a press conference and demanded that the Trump administration intervene after his daughter was forced to change alongside a trans athlete in the locker room.

Sean Lechner, the father of a Monroe High School volleyball player, told a bundled-up crowd that his teenage daughter was forced to compete against, and change her clothes alongside, a transgender athlete during a match this season.

“It’s simple, women play women’s sports,” Sean declared.

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his daughter, Monroe middle blocker Briley Lechner, along with a lineup of Republican elected officials and hopefuls. The impromptu press conference took place at a podium outside city hall, where they revealed a formal complaint they’d sent to federal authorities. 

Parents file Title IX complaint over locker room

The complaint accuses Monroe High School of requiring its girls’ volleyball team (including Briley) to “undress” in the same locker room as what it calls a biological male.

Fox News obtained a copy of the filing that was sent to the US Department of Education on December 5. The complaint argues that “parents must have confidence that school administrators prioritize the safety, privacy, equitable treatment, and fairness of female athletes.”

Along with the DOE, the Lechners also targeted the Michigan Department of Education, the MHSAA, and Monroe Public Schools.

The state’s Department of Education confirmed it “received the complaint and is reviewing it.” According to the filing, the girls were blindsided. “The presence of a male in the girls’ locker room was not disclosed prior to the match, constituting a violation of privacy and bodily integrity protections under Title IX,” the complaint states.

The Department of Education is already probing schools across the country over similar Title IX dust-ups, though none in Michigan.

Lechner called out Ann Arbor Skyline High School directly in his remarks, accusing the school of rostering a biological male athlete on the girls’ high school volleyball team and “placing female athletes in danger and subjecting them to a loss of privacy, safety, and dignity.”

Skyline’s girls’ volleyball team didn’t stumble through the season, either. The squad reached the Division 1 state quarterfinals with the transgender athlete in the starting lineup, and the player earned First Team All-Conference honors.

Michigan waiver for transgender athlete sparks statewide controversy

Under Michigan High School Athletic Association rules, any transgender athlete born male must apply for a waiver before joining a girls’ team. This year, the MHSAA granted exactly one waiver statewide for the 2025–26 fall sports season.

“We have not and cannot say for which school, or sport, as that would be identifying information and disregard student privacy laws,” an MHSAA spokesperson told Fox News. “The waiver was granted in compliance with applicable state and federal law. The MHSAA is obligated to follow both, even as state law and federal guidance have evolved in recent years, often in competing ways.”

Laura Perry, a candidate for Michigan’s 31st State House District, insisted the entire waiver system “must be eliminated because it directly conflicts with federal law.”

She said they’re calling on the Department of Education and the Trump administration to “act swiftly in this manner.”

“Women’s sports must be separated by biological sex. Federal executive order is being ignored,” she warned. “One waiver in Michigan, one displaced female athlete on a varsity roster or a starting lineup, one player of the match taken by a biological male, and one team advancing to the elite eight in the MHSAA tournament because of a male is one too many.” 

Teen volleyball player recounts sharing locker room experience

Reporters asked Briley how she felt after learning she had shared a locker room with a transgender athlete weeks earlier.

“When we found out weeks after that there was another male in the same locker room as us, as we were changing and also playing against us, it caught everyone off guard,” she recalled.

“That would have been the last thought because as I was looking at this person, admiring how amazing they were, admiring how high they could jump, I was kind of getting down to myself, like I wonder why I’m not capable of that," Briley said.

Meanwhile, the MHSAA said it has been in talks with state lawmakers throughout the fall about the growing legal concerns surrounding transgender participation.

“From those conversations, we know elected leaders from both parties recognize that the current issues surrounding eligibility and participation of transgender students remain subject to ongoing legal debate,” the MHSAA spokesperson told Fox News. “The MHSAA has consistently emphasized that it must follow the law, and when conflicts in law arise, the MHSAA must rely upon the legislature or the courts to provide clarity.”