Michigan Father Says Family Got Bomb Threat After Daughter Spoke Out On Playing Trans Volleyball Opponent

A Michigan father says his family has been threatened with violence, including an alleged bomb threat, since he and his teenage daughter went public about her having faced a transgender athlete in a girls' volleyball match without knowing the opponent was male.

Sean Lechner told Fox News Digital his family has been "threatened with violence, called Nazis, subjected to racist insults, and even received threats to blow up our home." He said the situation escalated to the point that the FBI contacted the family. Fox News Digital said it reached out to the FBI for comment. No confirmation of an active investigation has been publicly reported as of this writing, and no charges or arrests have been announced.

His daughter, Briley Lechner, is a 16-year-old student-athlete at Monroe High School in Michigan. She competed against a biological male trans athlete from another school during the fall 2024 season, when she was a freshman. The family first spoke publicly about the incident last fall, then resumed telling their story this past week in appearances on "Fox & Friends" and with the parental-rights group Moms for Liberty.

What the family says happened

Briley told Fox News Digital that after the family went public, "We've received death threats and threats of people coming to our house or going to my father's work." She said much of that hostility landed on her father rather than her directly.

She also said she has received messages accusing her of attacking transgender people and spreading hate for speaking out. "Of course, I never want to spread negativity. I don't want to spread hate or anything, and it does hurt to see that that's how people are viewing me," she said. "But I also stick to my ground, and I know what I'm standing up for."

Sean Lechner framed his involvement as a matter of protecting his daughter and her teammates. "All of this because I'm a father standing beside my daughter, her teammates, and every female athlete who deserves safety, privacy, fairness, and equal opportunity," he said.

The fairness argument, stated plainly

The Lechners argue that allowing biological males to compete in girls' sports creates a physical mismatch that can affect safety and competitive fairness, and that athletes and parents deserve to know who they are competing against. That is a mainstream position now codified into law in a number of states, including a "Save Women's Sports" push in Michigan that has generated its own political fights, including a viral exchange between a volleyball player and a Democratic state lawmaker referenced in earlier Fox News coverage.

On the other side, advocates for transgender athletes and their families argue that singling out a specific teenage opponent by name, repeatedly, in national media appearances subjects that individual, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing and was simply playing in a sanctioned high school match, to intense public scrutiny and potential harassment of her own. Neither the opposing athlete nor her family is quoted in the reporting reviewed here, and Fox News' coverage does not include any response from the opposing player, her school, or the Michigan High School Athletic Association about eligibility rules in place at the time of the match.

What's confirmed and what isn't

What's established: Briley Lechner played against an opponent whom the family says they later learned was a transgender athlete assigned male at birth. The family has spoken publicly, repeatedly, about the match since fall 2024. Sean Lechner says the family has received threatening messages including an alleged bomb threat, and that the FBI has been in contact with them.

What's not established in the available reporting: whether the FBI has opened a formal investigation, whether any suspect has been identified, and whether law enforcement has corroborated the specific bomb-threat claim. No arrests or charges tied to the alleged threats have been reported. Fox News Digital said it sought comment from the FBI. No response was included in the published account.

The story sits alongside a broader run of similar disputes this year, including in California, where Fox News has reported on girls' track athletes speaking out amid what the outlet calls a "Title IX crisis" tied to Gov. Gavin Newsom's policies. That framing is Fox's own characterization and has not been adopted by California state officials in the sourcing reviewed here.

The unresolved question is straightforward: does an actual law enforcement investigation exist, and if so, will the FBI or local police confirm whether the alleged bomb threat was verified, traced, or remains uncorroborated. Until that happens, the threat allegations rest on the Lechner family's account alone.