Frances Staudt refused to play against a male. Adults who should have protected her tried to make an example of her

They picked the wrong girl to bully

This is who Frances Staudt is: “I’ve been raised to be tough and fight. My parents have instilled in me to fight for what you believe in, and if you get knocked down, to get back up. I’m not afraid to speak out if I know what I’m saying is the truth. I’m 100 percent not afraid of potential consequences because I’m stronger than that and I don’t give up. I’m not going to allow them to silence me. I’m going to speak up for what I believe in. I’ll say again a hundred times—there are only two genders. I’ve been friends to kids who have turned their backs on me. I’m not a hateful person, I’m not disrespectful. When this comes to an end, I’d rather know I stood up for myself, and maybe others will see they can too. If you speak up, only good things will happen, even if, in the moment, it seems bad.”

By the way, Frances is 16 years old, a sophomore at Tumwater High School in Washington. Like most girls in Washington, Frances encountered a boy, both in her locker room and playing on a girls’ basketball team. Unlike most girls, she was not okay with it, nor willing to pretend that she was. See above.

Since February 6, 2025, the athletic, A-earning, firmly family, Christian grounded Tumwater student has become an outspoken firebrand who’s grabbed craven school officials by the lanyards and introduced them to a brand of teenage girl plainspeaking that like to goose their bobbing adam’s apples. Hiding behind ideologically driven policy that strips girls of any rights, weak-kneed chair warmers are discovering they’ve chosen the wrong girl to make an example of.

She radiates righteous energy, speaking at Let’s Go Washington events and with podcaster Brandi Kruse about what actually happens when a girl simply refuses to play against a boy, when she speaks up for her rights. Frances’s trial by fire demonstrates in vivid detail what “just refusing to play” actually demands of a girl who cannot yet vote, and it is not for the faint of heart. Frances and her mom, Aimee, related how school administrators and their obeisance to an anti-reality, anti-woman policy has unwittingly created the next icon for women’s rights.

The Female Category: So, at the February 6 game, you first noticed a boy on the opposing team during the warmup?

Frances: Yeah, he was obviously a man. I saw my mom talking with the coach and the Athletic Director. We had talked about it as a family and I made the decision I would not play. I was respectful. I was not making a scene; I just sat on the bench and did not play.

Aimee: A little background—the year before, when Frances was a freshman and playing on Tumwater’s freshman basketball team, this boy was on Shelton’s JV girls team. After her game, Frances went into the locker room and this boy was in there doing his hair and makeup. She came out in tears and said there is a guy in our locker room. I couldn’t believe it but we didn’t say anything. We thought it was terrible but we didn’t make an issue of it. Looking back, maybe we should have. She was 14 and he was 17. Now he’s 18, a man.

TFC: Did you tell your coach you wouldn’t play against a boy?

Frances: My coach saw me sitting on the bench and asked if I was ok. I told her there’s a boy on the other team, and I’m not going to play against a boy. I was very respectful, not raising my voice. She understood. I think she was frustrated with the situation.

TFC: Did any of your teammates notice there was a boy on the other team? Were they talking about it?

Frances: Some of them saw me sitting out and came up to ask if I was ok. I told them why I wasn’t playing. They all played.

Aimee: There were a lot of district officials at that game. I asked the principal, Zach Suderman, and the Athletic Director, Jordan Magrath, if they could confirm that the player on Shelton’s team was a boy. They said they could not because that would be gender discrimination. I asked because this was the day after the executive orders had been signed. They said Tumwater didn’t have to follow the executive orders because they followed Washington state and WIAA policy that allows boys to participate in girls’ sports. It’s important for you to know that Tumwater School District knew that this boy was coming to this game. They all met prior to the February 6th game to discuss the situation. But they didn’t invite the girls. If they had had a meeting and told the girls and the parents, there’s a boy on the opposing team and you have the right to decide to play or not, and we will support you if you sit out, we just wouldn’t have gone to that game. But they didn’t do that. They kept it a secret and put these girls on the spot, to have to make this decision in front of everyone. They chose not to respect the girls and tell them in private, but rather ambushed them. They set her up.

TFC: So you’re just sitting on the bench by yourself?

Frances: Later after a girl on our team was hurt by the boy, another girl sat out, but the other girls played. They were telling me it wasn’t a big deal, and that I should just deal with it. At half time, my team was giving me a hard time. I just think no girl should have to play against a man. I was not expecting that reaction [from them]. It’s sad.

Aimee:: My son and husband were at the game too. I wasn’t happy but I was going to handle it privately during the game, not make an issue, and maybe follow up with a letter. I was so flabbergasted by their absolute disregard for the girls, I wanted proof that this actually happened, so I gave my 13-year-old son my camera and he went down near the floor to get video. A Tumwater employee stood in front of him and said, “You better think twice about what you’re doing right now.” My son moved and this employee kept moving in front of him and threatening him. That’s when I lost my mind. I laid into the principal and the AD. About this time, the guy had hurt a Tumwater player so badly her mom had to get her off the court.

Frances: I was so upset when my teammate got hurt. I begged the principal, “Please, that is a man. This is so wrong. Please do something”. He said he wasn’t going to because that would be discrimination against the man. I was crying and very upset, thinking this isn’t right. I was told to go elsewhere if I was going to cry. They didn’t want anyone to see that I was upset by what was going on, that I wasn’t going along with it like everyone else. We decided to leave, but we had to walk in front of the stands. It was truly embarrassing—people from my school and the other school were laughing at me, I could hear them talking about me, making fun of me. As we walked by the other team’s bench, I walked by him [the boy] and said, “You’re a man,” and kept walking. Shelton’s assistant principal heard me call him a man and filed a complaint against me for misgendering him.

TFC: How did you find out the school was investigating you for bullying, harassment, and misgendering?

Aimee: That night Frances was so upset, beyond humiliated. She has a private Instagram account; she said she wanted to make a public post calling out what had happened. We agreed to switch her account to public. The next day the principal called me and told us to take down her post. Either that same day or a couple days later we got a letter from the Tumwater School District saying they had opened an investigation on Frances for harassment and bullying, and they wanted to call her in and question her. I said, over my dead body would she answer questions without representation. They did an investigation without Frances appearing and said she had violated WIAA rules. They threatened if she ever did anything wrong again, there would be “progressive consequences.” They threatened this straight A, 15-year-old student who has two-and-a-half more years in that school that she’d better not step out of line. Can you imagine saying that to a child, having that hang over your head for the rest of your time in that school? Her own guidance counselor, Anna Bush, wrote a public letter coming against what Frances did. It was signed by other counselors. The teacher’s union came out with a Facebook post, as well as one of the school coaches. They all came out against her, and all she did was say I’m not going to play against a boy. She was called a bigot, transphobe. It was awful what she had to go through.

This all could have been prevented but they didn’t really want to give anyone the chance to opt out quietly. Instead they humiliated Frances. Threats you wouldn’t believe that people were saying should happen to my daughter. From parents, kids, the teachers’ union. She has to walk the halls, where kids are yelling out transphobe. This abuse was encouraged by adults who were attacking her as well. The only people they were protecting were trans kids.

We filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights through FAIR against WIAA and Tumwater School District. The Department of Education has opened an investigation but we have not heard a ruling yet.

TFC: What would you hope to come out of that?

Aimee: That they follow federal law. We don’t want school funding to be pulled. We don’t want to punish kids who just want to play sports. I mean, all of our kids are in sports too, but if we don’t take a stand for not following federal law, it will continue. Something has to be done. This is not a political issue; it’s just common sense. I’ve never considered myself a feminist but I think, where are the women standing up for these girls?

TFC: I’m seeing a shift in public opinion, public knowledge about men in women’s sports, and that has not come from mainstream media. Where do you think people are learning about boys in girls sports, that it’s really happening? To what do you attribute this shift in public opinion?

Frances: [Superintendent] Chris Reykdal says this isn’t happening, that it’s a non-issue. He’s basically calling me a liar. This makes me so mad. It happened to me and it happened to other girls, and they’re saying just deal with it, and they cover it up with lies.

Aimee: My biggest worry is that there’s going to be an attack in a locker room because any man can come in. There is no control, and that scares me.

Frances: Right now there’s a boy at Tumwater using our locker room and bathrooms. Girls complained and not only are they [administrators] not going to do something, they told the girls, if you have an issue with it you can go to a different bathroom but we can’t guarantee the guy won’t be there too. They will look kids in the eye and say we care for you all, we love all students. What about girls who are upset and too afraid to say something? They only like kids who go along with it and don’t say anything. They tell girls, we don’t care about your feelings. You don’t matter. It’s disgusting. It’s mental abuse, and it makes girls feel bad about themselves for asking for privacy.

Girls tell me they agree with me but they’re scared to speak up. They see what happened to me. I had so many people throwing hate at me. People are scared to speak up because administrators won’t do anything and will come out against them.

Aimee: The principal has written to these people who attacked Frances thanking them for their advocacy, for humiliating Frances. It’s criminal what they’ve done to her. I don’t care what they’ve done—no kid should be outed and criticized like this.

Frances: Nobody was there to say I’m proud of you or good job for standing up for what you believe. Instead teachers were coming out against that. It’s fine if you have an opinion, unless it goes against what they think. Other kids are pro this and that, but you speak up for what you think and suddenly you’re a transphobe and a liar.

TFC: I saw an interview with another Washington girl who said boys are just coming in to the girls’ locker room and hanging out. They’re not athletes and they don’t identify as girls. They’re apparently just doing it because they can.

Frances: I’m not surprised. Any guy can walk in. It may not have even crossed his mind, but he can march right in. No one’s going to do anything about it; there are no consequences.

TFC: Despite the fact that gender ideology is taught as fact in schools, it seems kids are rejecting this. What’s your feeling on this?

Aimee: There’s a small percent in Tumwater who align with Frances, a small group of her friends, but most of them are afraid to say anything. Most kids have been indoctrinated since kindergarten. They think this is normal.

Frances: In my freshman health class they talked about being born in the wrong body, and that it was disrespectful to use a deadname. I thought deadname meant you shouldn’t talk about people who were dead. Kids way younger are being taught the same thing. Why not math and reading and science?

Aimee: The idea of free debate and being civil has gone away. It’s ruining something foundational in our society. You can’t just disagree—you’re a bad person if you don’t agree.

TFC: Naming names, calling out state and school officials. going on the offense rather than being, somewhat apologetic—what did you know of women’s rights activists that have come before? What inspires your strong stance?

Frances: I knew of Riley Gaines. I’ve been raised to be tough and fight. My parents have instilled in me to fight for what you believe in. If you get knocked down, get back up. I’m not afraid, if I know what I’m saying is the truth. I’ve been called out by name— why should I not call them by name? I’m not afraid of what they could do. I’m 100% not afraid of potential consequences because I’m stronger than that and I don’t give up. I’m not going to allow them to silence me. I’ll say again a hundred times, I’m not afraid of what their progressive consequences can be—there are only two genders.

It’s easy to laugh until you’re the one being laughed at. When I was 15 and alone, it was hard for me to say certain things, but I know what I’m saying is right. It gives me courage. It would be amazing to have support, but I will be the only person, if that’s what it takes. If I can say something at 15 or 16, then maybe someone else can too. When it comes to an end, I’d rather know I stood up for myself. If you speak up, only good things will happen even if, in the moment, it seems bad. It amazes me how there are people who know it’s wrong and they’re having such an easy time of it now, going along and purposely spreading lies. This is a free country; you shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of saying what you believe. I have a strong belief in Jesus and God. I lean on that and my family when all else fails,

TFC: School officials have doubled down, attacking girls’ right to even talk about the violation. And it seems like activists have become more violent too, based on police presence at the Let’s Go Washington signing. Have you received threats or have police notified you of security issues?

Aimee: Yes, back in February we had to call the sheriff. The boys’ father threatened to show up at our house and threatened my husband’s job. For several interviews, Frances has had to have private security. Why can’t we have a conversation? I don’t believe in trans but I have no issue with trans people. They’re being lied to. It’s not about trans people—it’s about the lie that’s being told and the threats for not agreeing.

Frances: The same people who have left me these horrible messages have those Love is Love signs in their yard. They talk about peace and kindness and say they love everyone until you have a differing opinion. There are those signs that say, This is a safe space in classrooms, but I’ve never once felt like this is a safe space for me to talk about my beliefs.

Aimee: This is so much bigger as a society as far as what we’ve allowed to happen in our schools. I think they’re [trans advocates] panicking. I think the silent majority is awakening. I think it’s so important to have hope. I don’t want to push my religion on you, but every night we get together as a family and pray. As dark as it is, we have hope.