The Alabama High School Athletic Association transfer policy picked up a win in court this month as a Montgomery Circuit Court ruled in favor of the AHSSA, denying a preliminary injunction in a case alleging discrimination towards male student-athletes.
Judge J.R. Gaines of the Montgomery County Circuit Court ruled in the AHSAA 's favor in the lawsuit brought by a parent challenging the transfer policy. Michael Kidd sued the AHSAA looking to get his son eligible.
Kidd was petitioning the court for temporary and permanent injunctions and filed an emergency motion for a restraining order. His son, a 10th-grader, moved from Prattville High School to Marbury High School, using the Autauga County Board of Education's school choice policy. A bona fide move was not made though, meaning by AHSAA policy that Kidd's son had to sit out of varsity-level athletics for a year.
That policy is the one that Kidd was trying to challenge and get an order to allow his son to play varsity level sports. He argued three reasons, including "(1) cheerleading, a predominately female activity, is not classified as a sport and is not subject to the eligibility rules applicable to (Kidd's son), thus denying (Kidd's son) his constitutional right to equal protection of the law and violating Title IX; (2) the AHSAA arbitrarily enforces its rules among its member schools; and (3) the AHSAA breached a contract with (Kidd's son) by acting contrary to its representations in its 'Handbook' of regulations that it would not exclude a person from participating in its programs on the basis of sex," according to the order from the Judge when denied the preliminary injunction.
Judge Gaines wrote that he denied the lawsuit for a variety of reasons, one of which is that cheerleading is not a sanctioned AHSAA sport, but a support group for AHSAA sanctioned teams. For the reason, cheer is not held to the same standards for eligibility. The AHSAA process for sanctioning a sport, like cheer, comes from the member schools, so Gaines found precedent that the AHSAA was not discriminating male athletes by not sanctioning cheerleading as a sport.
There was also precedent that cheerleading can not be considered a sport for Title IX compliance. There was not a reasonable chance that Kidd could show that the AHSAA was unfairly enforcing rules just on his son, the court ruled.
The court could not find where Kidd's son would suffer irreparable harm. Kidd's son could still play junior varsity sports and return to varsity competition for his junior and senior years.
The court also found a precedent of a past Alabama Supreme Court ruling that a “court in this state has no jurisdiction to resolve disputes regarding eligibility under the rules of the AHSAA."
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What did the AHSAA statement say?
“We are pleased with the Court’s ruling denying the request for Preliminary Injunction which we believe to be consistent with Alabama law. Because the case remains pending, we respectfully refer you to the Court filings and AHSAA legal counsel for any additional comment,” said Heath Harmon , AHSAA Executive Director.
What did Kidd and the plaintiff side say?
The USA Today Network in Alabama reached out to Michael Kidd via an email listed on the court files and had not heard back from him.
What was the timeline of events in the case?
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 5, with a hearing Sept. 10 regarding the motion to dissolve the restraining order. The hearing was then rescheduled for Sept. 16 and continued until Sept. 19, where testimony was heard by AHSAA executive director Harmon.
Gaines made his official ruling on the preliminary injunction on Oct. 9, denying it.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Judge rules in favor of AHSAA transfer policy in suit alleging discrimination
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