Transgender track athlete Sadie Schreiner has filed a lawsuit against Princeton University, alleging she was unlawfully banned from participating in a women’s race just 15 minutes before it began.
The former Rochester Institute of Technology sprinter is suing the university and members of its athletics department under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), claiming her rights were violated when she was removed from the starting list for the 200-metre race at the Larry Ellis Invitational.
According to Outsports, Schreiner was disqualified from the May 2025 event by Princeton’s Athletics Director John Mack, with alleged involvement from Director of Track Operations Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick. The suit, filed on 14 July, claims both officials knew Schreiner was transgender and removed her in violation of state law.
“The actions of the two Princeton officials were in blatant and wilful disregard of Sadie’s rights… thereby causing Sadie Schreiner foreseeable emotional and physical harm,” the filing reportedly states.
Schreiner’s attorney, Susan Cirilli, told Outsports that her client’s gender identity is protected under New Jersey law.
“Gender identity and expression is a protected status under the NJLAD,” Cirilli said.
“As included in the complaint, it is unlawful discrimination for any person to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any acts forbidden under the NJLAD.”
PinkNews has contacted both Mack and Keenan-Kirkpatrick for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Political Backdrop: Trump’s Anti-Trans Executive Orders
Schreiner’s case unfolds against the backdrop of a wider crackdown on trans athletes in the US, led by President Donald Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order earlier this year.
The order bans transgender women from competing in female sports categories at the federal level — a move widely condemned by LGBTQIA+ advocates but praised by Republican lawmakers as restoring “fairness”.
As a result, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) barred trans women from female competitions, including Schreiner, who had placed third and earned All-American honours at the 2024 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships.
In March, Schreiner publicly criticised Trump’s ban, defending her right to compete and sharing the physiological changes she’s undergone as a result of hormone therapy.
“(The hormone therapy) shrank my ligaments. It’s made me shorter. It’s made me weaker. It’s lessened my muscles. It’s redistributing my fat. It’s lowered my lung capacity,” she told CNN.
“My biology is fundamentally different to a cis male’s.”
