EXCLUSIVE: Texas Sues Swimming Organization For Letting Men Compete With Women

Texas is suing U.S. Masters Swimming over its policy allowing trans-identifying males to compete in women’s events, The Daily Wire can first report.

The lawsuit, which Attorney General Ken Paxton filed Thursday, comes after an investigation determined the amateur sports organization “engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by allowing men to compete in women’s events,” Paxton’s office said in a press release.

BREAKING: I'm suing U.S. Masters Swimming for engaging in illegal practices by allowing men to compete in women's competitions.

The organization has cowered to radical activists pushing gender warfare, and this lawsuit will hold USMS accountable for its actions. pic.twitter.com/2E3wr8hnnl

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 17, 2025

U.S. Masters Swimming holds competitions for adult swimmers across the country and has about 60,000 members.

In May, Paxton launched an investigation into U.S. Masters Swimming after a trans-identifying male swimmer blew his female competitors away at this year’s Spring Nationals in San Antonio.

The 47-year-old man who identifies as a woman, Ana Caldas, won five women’s events, sparking angry calls for U.S. Masters Swimming to change its rules.

Paxton said the new lawsuit aims to hold U.S. Masters Swimming “accountable to the women that it has harmed and the consumers that it has deceived” as his team continues to “fight to protect the integrity of women’s sports.”

“U.S. Masters Swimming’s insane policy of allowing men to participate in women’s competitions is both deeply unfair to female competitors and unlawful,” Paxton said in a statement.

“The organization has cowered to radical activists pushing gender warfare, and it has deprived female participants of the opportunity to succeed at the highest levels by letting men win countless events,” the attorney general said.

The suit highlights the organization’s “past false, deceptive, and misleading practices of representing that its women’s sports would be exclusively for females to participate in and win, only to turn around and steal awards and recognitions for women by giving them to men competing in women’s events,” Paxton’s office said.

After the Texas investigation was launched, U.S. Masters Swimming updated its policy.

The organization previously allowed trans-identifying males to compete on the women’s team as long as they had been on estrogen for a year and had testosterone below a certain level. Males who did not meet these requirements were also allowed to swim in the women’s races, but their performance did not count in the competition.

On July 1, U.S. Masters Swimming enacted a new “interim eligibility policy,” which bars trans-identifying males from competing in the women’s category, but they may still swim in the women’s races.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who put U.S. Masters Swimming on notice just days before the Texas lawsuit was filed, said the new policy “purports to protect women’s sports, but it does not get the job done.”

“This is not acceptable. It does not fly with Florida law,” Uthmeier said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Today, we put U.S. Masters Swimming on notice: Allowing men in women's swimming competitions is unlawful in Florida.

Fix the policy, or there will be consequences. pic.twitter.com/Os32iVNE77

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) July 15, 2025

U.S. Masters must “quickly certify in writing” that they will ensure no men participate with women or face legal action, Uthmeier said.

Besides fairness in competition, another concern is safety in the locker rooms, the Florida attorney general said.

“We will not tolerate it. We will hold you accountable if you are going to endanger our women and girls,” Uthmeier said.

“We will always fight to protect women and girls from being subjected to men trying to compete in female sports — it’s our moral obligation to do so,” Uthmeier said in a statement to The Daily Wire.

U.S. Masters is based in Sarasota, Florida and has several upcoming events in the state.

Several athletic organizations have backed down and changed their policies after President Donald Trump, surrounded by smiling young girls wearing sports uniforms, signed an order banning trans-identifying males from girls’ sports.

One of those was the NCAA, which changed its policy to ban trans-identifying males on women’s teams less than 24 hours after Trump’s order.

The NCAA attracted controversy for its swimming competitions when trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas tied with the University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines, who has become an advocate for women’s sports. Prior to that, Thomas had placed first in the 500 freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.