WV Middle School Girls Punished For Transgender Protest, AG Files Lawsuit

On April 18, five West Virginia middle school girls refused to participate in a track & field event due to the inclusion of a transgender (biological male) opponent. The transgender competitor went on to win the girls' shot put event, beating the second place girl by over three feet. 

The transgender athlete also participated in the discus event, where the athlete finished in second place. 

Following their protest, the five athletes – from Lincoln Middle School in Shinnston, West Virginia – were suspended for the team's following track & field meet, which took place on April 27. 

In response, the West Virginia Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit, which includes four of the five athletes and their parents as plaintiffs. 

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

(USA Today Network)

The lawsuit names the Harrison County Board of Education as the defendant. OutKick reached out to the president of the board, Gary Hamrick, who said that neither he nor anyone on the board had anything to do with the decision. 

"I have not been involved in any decision, nor has the board, concerning this matter. Please refer all emails to the superintendent," Hamrick told OutKick via email. 

OutKick reached out to Harrison County Superintendent Dora Stutler, but we have not heard back as of publishing. 

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of Harrison County, the plaintiffs allege that it was a school decision to hold them out of the April 27 meet. 

OutKick also reached out to Lincoln Middle School principal Lori Scott, athletic director Jessica Logar and girls' track and field coach, Dawn Riestenberg. None has yet responded to our requests for comment. 

One interesting point to note is a photo on the head coach's personal Facebook page. According to the post, the photo was taken at Christmas and includes Riestenberg's three children, along with the boyfriend of one of her daughters. 

The boyfriend, Josh Nibert, is wearing a shirt that reads "Protect Trans Kids" with a knife in between the words "Protect" and "Trans." 

Here is a photo of the shirt which is available on Amazon. 

"Protect Trans Kids" shirt. 

(Amazon.com)

The lawsuit acknowledges that coaches have a right to discipline players on their team, should they feel players are negatively impacting the team. However, the suit states that this clearly is not what happened in this case. 

"Most anyone would acknowledge that coaches and schools have latitude in their handling of aspects of team management — after all, another rule allows principals ‘to exclude a contestant who would not represent the school in an appropriate manner,’" the lawsuit reads.

"But these girls have done nothing to lead anyone to believe that they would represent their school in an inappropriate manner. Quite to the contrary: they have, in truth, represented their school exceptionally well by demonstrating their personal objections in a clear but non-disruptive protest action and then providing a clear, concise explanation for that protest at a public press conference." 

"Their actions at the earlier track meet were not disruptive or aggrandizing," West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wrote in the amicus brief. "They were the quiet demonstration of the student-athletes’ evident unhappiness with the competitive consequences of a federal appellate court’s decision." 

Emmy Salerno, who is the only one of the five athletes who is not included in the lawsuit, spoke out during a recent press conference held by Morrisey and included OutKick podcast host Riley Gaines.  

Riley Gaines and Emmy Salerno pose for a photo in Charleston, WV after a press conference held by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

"About two years ago, the transgender movement started becoming more and more popular," Salerno said. "I was never affected by it until last year. I started to think, 'this can't be right.' All my teammates are working so hard to get beat by this boy… This made me feel like I had to do something not just for myself, but for girls everywhere."

OutKick spoke to Salerno's father, A.J., about his daughter's protest and subsequent punishment that followed. He said when his daughter approached him and told him what she and her teammates were planning, he was fully in support. 

"I was 100% on board – 200% on board, really – because this is nonsense," Salerno said. "I raised my kids to love God, treat people the way you want to be treated, and stand up for what's right. 

"When it comes to whatever you want to be, that's fine with us. But when it comes to affecting me personally, which, in this situation, was my kid's competition, that's not right. If this country can't agree on the difference between a boy and a girl, then we're in trouble." 

The Salernos are the only one of the five families involved who didn't join the Attorney General's lawsuit. Mr. Salerno said they just didn't want to be involved in the legal process. 

He also told OutKick that all he, and his daughter, wanted was for people to see the injustice that she and her teammates faced, which he believes they have accomplished. 

Mr. Salerno also felt that most of the blowback from the school was led by the girls track & field head coach, Dawn Riestenberg. He said that administrators hadn't spoken to him since his daughter's protest, but mostly felt that they supported his daughter's actions. 

"I really felt like a lot of the administration were on my side, but were walking that tightrope and couldn't cross it," he said. 

However, Riestenberg allegedly attempted to contact one of the younger members of the team prior to the protest because she had caught wind of their plan. The head coach wanted to stop the protest from happening by not allowing the girls to compete at all in the April 18 meet. 

Whether the school's administration stepped in and stopped her from pulling the girls from the competition is unclear. Mr. Salerno added that his daughter felt as though Riestenberg punished the girls by making them run extra sprints during ensuing practices, as well as by imposing a one-meet suspension. 

It's a bit concerning that a middle girls' track & field coach is more concerned with the feelings of a biological boy competing for a different school than she is with the feelings of the girls on her own team.  If Riestenberg gets back to us to explain, OutKick will update this story.