Prosser senior fighting WA’s laws on trans athletes. What she has to say
A Prosser High School student-athlete says Washington is denying her the right to compete in a fair environment and that the state’s anti-discrimination laws protecting transgender students should be overturned.
“I’m speaking up because I shouldn’t have to worry about my opportunities and I should have equal opportunities — as well as every other woman participating,” Soleil Hoefer, a senior, told the Tri-City Herald.
It’s also why Hoefer, who plays soccer and runs track and field for the Mustangs, agreed to be named in a Title IX complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights earlier this month.
The document was penned by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a prominent Christian legal advocacy group.
It alleges that Washington’s policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports robs Hoefer and Kora Lengerich, a freshman track athlete at Gonzaga Prepatory School, of fair competition. Both run the 400-meter dash, and are likely to compete against a trans East Valley High School senior won the 2A state title last year.
Hoefer was asked by Mustang coaches to step up this season as the school’s top 400 runner. Last month at the Kamiakin Jamboree, she ran the event for the first time and notched a first-place finish with a time of 65.86 seconds — about 10 seconds slower than the East Valley student’s best time.
Advocates for trans athletes say the success stories of a few competitors have been exaggerated to draw on fears, and that there’s no advantage or overwhelming dominance.
Hoefer’s complaint also says Washington’s protections violate Title IX — the federal sex discrimination law that guarantees students equal opportunity to enjoy educational benefits regardless of sex — and goes against the Trump Administration’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order.
The battle over Washington’s gender policies is heating up with the track and field season in full swing and as President Donald Trump entered his second term promising to defund K-12 schools and colleges that promote “gender ideology.”
It pits the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction against the U.S. Department of Education, although public school leaders — who receive funding from both the state and feds — have been anxious about getting caught in the middle and losing resources for noncompliance.
The Kennewick School Board recently made a Title IX complaint that closely mirrored Hoefer’s claims. And just this week the Trump Administration opened an investigation into OSPI, alleging the state education agency made the wrong call when it determined the La Center School District’s pronoun policy violated state law.
Franklin County also weighed in this week. Its commissioners unanimously approved a resolution opposing transgender athletes competing in high school and college, calling the act “demeaning, unfair and dangerous to women and girls.”
The U.S. Department of Education plans to begin stripping $400 million in federal K-12 education funding from public schools in Maine and sue the state after it rejected Trump’s demand to ban transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports.
Lifelong Prosser athlete
Hoefer’s played on Prosser’s varsity soccer and track and field teams her entire high school career.
A multi-event thrower, jumper and runner, she was named “Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year” two consecutive years by the Prosser coaching staff. And she’s been named to the Central Washington Athletic Conference’s first-team, all-conference soccer squad.
She says athletics are such a big part of her life that she recently began coaching a girls U-10 team.
“I was a very active child — super involved in sports,” says the Walla Walla Community College soccer commit.
She says her concerns about transgender athletes competing in girls sports began last year.
During a college showcase game, her select team, Three Rivers Soccer Club, competed against a team that reportedly had a transgender competitor. She says the goalie was “so much more physically fit,” tall and harder to compete against.
“It was kind of a scary experience because I play forward, so when I run to get the ball I was scared I was going to get slide tackled or taken out,” she said.
That game ended in either a 0-0 tie or loss. Hoefer says she can’t recall.
Hoefer and her mother say their high school track and field coaches were reassured last year that the East Valley athlete wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the state 400 race.
So they were surprised and “heartbroken” when the teen won the 2A state championship in May 2024 with a 55.75-second run, and made history as the first trans athlete to win a first-place title.
She anticipates she’ll compete against the transgender athlete for the first time at the Greater Spokane League regional meet next month. Lengerich has competed against the East Valley athlete at a preseason event, but came in fourth at that meet.
Hoefer says the mental preparation to run a 400 is already difficult enough. She says running against a transgender competitor would add weight to that struggle.
“Continuing to allow males to compete in girls sports just disadvantages us and it destroys our athletic confidence,” she said.
OSPI, WIAA defends WA gender laws
Suzanne Beecher, an attorney for ADF, says the complaint serves as an invitation for the Department of Education to vet the Evergreen State’s Title IX compliance.
“If girls are losing opportunities or suffering emotional harm, and losing out on the benefits of fair and safe competition, that’s raising a Title IX issue that falls under the Department of Education’s purview. So, they can file a complaint,” Beecher said, adding that the state is putting “bad policies” over the “safety and interests of their female athletes.”
But the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association — which organizes sports competitions of its 800 member middle schools and high schools — has for the last two decades allowed students to participate in the gendered sport that aligns with their preferred identity.
That rule is backed up by Washington law that lists gender expression and identity as protected classes in the state, meaning schools cannot discriminate against students.
OSPI says all public school students have a right to be treated in ways that align with their gender identity. That means students can engage with or use whichever restroom, locker room, pronouns, dress code or athletics programs aligns with their expression.
It’s estimated there are between five and 10 student athletes across Washington state who are transgender, a portion of about 0.004% of the quarter-million student athletes.
Tri-City coaches have spoken out about their concerns of advantages trans athletes have in girls sports. They note World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, in 2023 banned trans women who’d undergone male puberty from competing in women’s sports.
Chris Reykdal, Washington’s superintendent of public schools, has continued to push schools to follow the state’s guidance on gender laws. He says an executive order is not a law and does not override existing state law.
“The president’s executive order related to trans female athletes attempts to override the authority of states and local school districts by requiring educational institutions to agree to discriminate against trans female athletes in order to continue receiving federal funds,” he said in a statement.
“OSPI will enforce our current laws as we are required to do in a constitutional democracy until Congress changes the law and/or federal courts invalidate Washington state’s laws. In addition, we are prepared to take legal action if any federal dollars are paused, withheld, or removed from any of our public schools,” Reykdal continued.
But Hoefer hopes things change here. She says her fight’s got the support of her peers and fellow athletes.
“I think a lot of them are just giving me as much support as they can, and they all have my back,” she said.
