Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into USA Fencing after the organization disqualified a female athlete who refused to compete against a transgender-identifying male.

Stephanie Turner, who competes for the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, took a knee when she was matched against Redmond Sullivan at a USA Fencing sanctioned tournament in Maryland on March 30. Sullivan is a male fencer at Wagner College who identifies as transgender and until October 2023 used to compete against other men.

When Turner refused to fence Sullivan, USA Fencing issued her a black card, disqualifying her from the tournament. Her disqualification was “the direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent,” Bryan Wendell, the director of communications for USA Fencing, said at the time.

Now, Paxton will investigate the organization and issue USA Fencing a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) “over potential violations of Texas state law.”

“USA Fencing is on the wrong side of history and potentially the wrong side of the law due to violations of Texas consumer protection laws,” Paxton said in a statement on Tuesday. “USA Fencing’s policies are not only potentially illegal, but also deeply insulting to the young women like Stephanie Turner who have sacrificed so much and dedicated countless hours to compete and succeed in competitions. I will fight to stop these unfair policies, and I will never back down from defending the integrity of women’s sports.”

USA Fencing’s transgender and nonbinary policy allows athletes “to participate in USA Fencing sanctioned events in a manner consistent with their gender identity/ expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.” The policy was enacted in 2023.

After a video of the exchange between Turner and Sullivan went viral, USA Fencing said that it would always “err on the side of inclusion.”

“When I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual,'” Turner told Fox News. “Redmond didn’t hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you.'”

Although the event in question occurred in Maryland, USA Fencing hosts competitions in Texas regularly.