After launching an investigation in mid-May, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS) after the organization allowed a transgender swimmer to compete in women’s events at the 2025 Spring Nationals held in April in San Antonio.
The press release stated the decision for the lawsuit was made after the investigation was completed. It added that “Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit highlights USMS’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.”
The release also stated, “The lawsuit aims to hold U.S. Masters Swimming accountable to the women that it has harmed and the consumers that it has deceived.”
The suit specifically mentions that USMS violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by allowing trans women to compete in women’s category. Paxton’s office seeks up to $10,000 for each alleged trade practice act violation, according to the filing.
In 2023, Texas passed a law prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports at the K-12 level, or in intramural, club, or NCAA sports at public colleges and universities in the state. That law did not explicitly mention adult amateur sports, which is why Paxton is using the deceptive practices law for the suit.
USMS, a national organization, may counter-argue that the law burdens interstate commerce by creating conflicting standards for different states and that federal law then supersedes and that the case should be moved to federal court.
The original investigation came on the heels of Ana Caldas, a transgender woman, winning five events in the women’s 45-49 age group at the 2025 USMS Spring Nationals.
The 47-year-old won the 50 free (24.17), 100 free (53.16), 50 breast (29.74), 100 breast (1:06.69), and 100 IM (1:01.72).
USMS allows “transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify.”
Caldas, who has competed in the women’s division in CrossFit competitions dating back to 2012, was previously a competitive swimmer in the male division in the early 2000s before transitioning.
Caldas’ performances in April led to numerous calls for U.S. Masters Swimming to change its transgender policy, including The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) writing a letter to the USMS Board about the situation.
In response to the controversy, USMS released an interim eligibility policy in June outlining new guidelines for participation in men’s and women’s categories, specifically updating the rules regarding transgender participation.
The new interim policy is modeled after “applicable parts” of the World Aquatics Policy on eligibility for participation in men’s and women’s categories.
The policy allows members to register for the competition category that aligns with their identity, but for placement purposes—being part of the USMS “Recognition Programs”—athletes will not be included unless they are swimming in the competition category that aligns with their sex assigned at birth.
USMS “Recognition Programs” are competitive awards and rankings offered within USMS. Examples include: USMS records, Top 10, All-American, placing and scoring of points at all sanctioned events, and all similar LMSC-level competitive recognition programs. Swimmers who opt to swim in a category that does not align with their sex at birth are not eligible for Recognition Programs, but their results stay in the USMS database.
In response to the lawsuit, USMS sent an email to members, which included the following:
USMS implemented an interim eligibility policy on July 1 in response to feedback from our members and the Attorney General’s office and in line with our partnership with World Aquatics, which USMS is a member federation of.
USMS surprisingly learned yesterday via social media that the Texas Office of the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against USMS and the five LMSCs that operate in the State of Texas. USMS is currently reviewing the allegations.
To be clear, under USMS’s policy (which aligns with World Aquatics policy), trans women are not eligible to receive records, Top 10 times, or awards in the women’s category at all USMS-sanctioned events, and trans men are eligible for those competitive recognition programs in the men’s category. Moreover, trans women swimming in the women’s category do not displace other women from participating or receiving recognition in any USMS event. USMS policies referenced have been publicly posted on our website since 2012 and are outlined in our annually published Code of Regulations. More information about USMS’s interim eligibility policy can be found in our FAQs.
USMS is a national nonprofit community of adult swimmers focused on health and fitness. It is deeply disappointing to see our organization and individual members publicly targeted in a lawsuit that appears to be more about generating headlines than seeking justice.
USMS will continue to cooperate fully with the Texas Office of the Attorney General and to uphold the values that have guided our community for more than 50 years.”
Paxton may not be the only Attorney General filing a lawsuit, as a report by AOL indicates that Florida AG James Uthmeier is also considering a similar route.
What is the status of this lawsuit since the athlete in question is a cis woman?
I swim with USMS and officiate, great organization. The government’s issue is with the mere existence of transgender people, and they will use whatever means at their disposal to exclude them from society. Seeing a transgender person in a swimsuit or any tight athletic outfit seems particularly offensive to them. Whether anyone was harmed is beside the point.
Does the interim policy allow trans individuals to participate in a final event, bumping a woman from the final? From my understanding the individual swimming with women in the San Antonio Nationals meet did place. Wasn’t the interim established because of the outcry over this?
USMS Nationals don’t have finals (and most Masters meets are the same). Everything is a timed final, so nobody was bumped from any finals swims.
Since this is your first time commenting, I’m not sure if you’re a swimming person or not. In case you’re not, “timed finals” means everyone just swims in a heat based on their seed time in one big run of events, and the best time, regardless of which heat it was in, wins the event. There’s no “top 8 advance and then the fastest of the top 8 reswim wins” like you would see at the Olympics.
Thank you! I appreciate you explaining. I did grow up swimming but do not know the racing rules for Masters. Thank you for taking the time to answer. 🙂 It’s nice to dialog and learn.
Since when does Paxton (and Texas) care about women? Is he a women’s sports fan? Can he name a single woman athlete, sports team? Been to a WNBA game? His political career and voting history speaks for itself, he is against all DEI (which btw includes women) and supports groups that discriminate and hold women back. He has been in legal trouble himself yet is stuck on the “fraudulent” nature of USMS.
USMS deserves to be sued.
For not discriminating? The new interim policy is even more restricted and is unfair to trans people. Why all the hate for trans people? Literally just people who’ve done nothing to you. Really the hatred within our organization is vile. Would you rather trans people not swim at all?
The party of small government outreach, ladies and gentlemen
USMS and other sport governing bodies should not hold championships in any states that puts them at risk of frivolous lawsuits like this one. Even barring personal opinions, suing a non-profit over this issue, involving an attorney general, and claiming “deceptive practices” is unhinged and a waste of taxpayers money and USMS money that now has to be spent on lawyers fighting this thing.
All a distraction from issues that really affect Americans – like scenes from Schindler’s List that are playing out in real life . . ..
As an outsider, watching America destroying itself from within is fascinating.
the last 4 years are over, moving up now if you had not noticed ..