Mont. Co. Board of Education attorney: Attack by broomstick-wielding football players charged with rape didn’t constitute sexual assault

...The lawsuit rests heavily on Title IX, a broad education law that in part is designed to protect students against severe sexual harassment. Designating the attacks as nonsexual, according to the school system attorney’s arguments in federal court, would move the case away from Title IX and dismiss a key claim made by the victims’ families. The attorney, Sean O’Hara, noted that in the families’ own legal claims, the motivation for the attacks “was to scare, intimidate, and control.”

His reasoning was rejected by the court.

“I don’t buy that argument at all,” Messitte said from the bench. “As a matter of law, I’m not prepared to say that this is not sexual.”..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/broomstick-hazing-lawsuit-damascus/2021/08/12/fb45fe90-df2b-11eb-b507-697762d090dd_story.html