Payton McNabb, Injured Volleyball Player, Wins Title IX Victory

by Jeff Johnston | March 12, 2025 | Culture

Payton McNabb, who was severely injured in a high school girls volleyball game by a male student, won a Title IX victory after encountering a transgender-identified male in a women’s restroom at Western Carolina University.

She posted a video of the man leaving the women’s room on X, which led to the Title IX complaint.

The incident also led to McNabb’s expulsion from the Delta Zeta Sorority she had joined at WCU. The sorority said she violated its “anti-bullying policy” with “conduct which is prejudicial to the Sorority, tending to bring it into disrepute.”

The Daily Citizen connected with McNabb, who told us about the importance of this recent victory for girls and women,

This Title IX case is yet another piece of my story that proves gender ideology will not prevail. The truth wins. Most importantly, this civil rights investigation victory showcases that women do not need to sit there and take it – they do not need to accept men in their spaces, sports or intimate and private spaces.

She added, “I hope it gives other collegiate women the courage to stand up for themselves.”

Independent Women’s Features, a project of Independent Women’s Forum, explained how the kerfuffle with the man in the ladies’ room unfolded.

“McNabb confronted the male for making her feel uncomfortable in a vulnerable and private space, and subsequently expressed her First Amendment rights by posting a video of the ‘unreal’ encounter on X.”

IWF said that seeing the man leaving a private women’s space left McNabb feeling “bewildered and alarmed,” adding,

“As she tried to sort through emotions in her head in the heat of the moment, McNabb said she reflected on how young girls come in and out of that bathroom regularly during field trips to WCU’s public campus, and said she decided to question the male because she had no way of knowing his intentions.”

She asked the man, “Why are you in the girls’ bathroom?”

He responded, “Because I’m a trans girl.”

McNabb responded, “But you’re not a girl. … I pay a lot of money to be safe in the bathroom.”

The transgender-identifying man then filed a Title IX complaint with the university.

IWF writes, “McNabb won the campus Title IX case – a victory that is not only a personal triumph for McNabb, but also one with far-reaching implications in the ongoing legal battle over sex-based rights and the future of Title IX. “

McNabb first made headlines in September 2022, after receiving a severe head and neck injury when a male player spiked a ball so hard it knocked Payton out. She was 17 years old, a junior in high school. The injury left her concussed with a traumatic brain injury, partial paralysis and vision problems.

She still struggles with medical issues caused by the injury, as posted on X,

Being knocked out by a male player transformed McNabb into an activist. She’s an ambassador with Independent Women’s Forum, “advocating to protect girls’ and women’s sports while pursuing her bachelor’s degree.” 

First lady Melania Trump invited McNabb to be a special guest at President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 6, 2025, praising her because she “has made it her mission to put an end to this brutal unfairness.”

McNabb told us, “It was an incredible honor to attend President Trump’s Joint Session Address to Congress as one of the President and First Lady’s special guests. I was so excited to be there, to sit next to the Second Lady, and it’s a night I will never forget.”

She also excoriated those who blocked a federal bill to protect women’s sports, and told us she has been targeted by activists after attending the speech,

I have received significant pushback since I attended the address. My story is a testament to the real physical threat men in women’s sports pose, which is why it is no surprise that radical activists are now trying to discredit my story.

Brave women like McNabb, who stand for truth about biological reality and for fairness for girls and women, deserve our prayers and support. We’re asking God to heal her and to protect her as she fights to save women’s sports and battles for women’s safety and privacy in sex-segregated spaces.

Related Articles and Resources:

International Women’s Features: Payton McNabb Prevails in Title IX Case As Legal Fights Over Sex Definitions Heat Up

‘Everyday Americans’ Honored at Address to Congress

Gaines, Women’s Rights Groups Support Women Appealing Case of Man Joining Sorority  

Male and Female Biology Matters

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

Senate Democrats Block Bill to Save Women’s Sports

Sorority Members Old and New, Feminists, Riley Gaines Band Together to Protect Women’s Spaces

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?

Yet Another Man Steals Women’s Trophies

Image credit: Payton McNabb / Independent Women’s Forum