SALT LAKE CITY — Six parents have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of their high school-age daughters claiming the Granite, Canyons and Jordan school districts discriminate on the basis of sex because they do not offer female students the opportunity to play on girls football teams.

The lawsuit claims failing to offer girls football runs afoul of federal Title IX and that the "defendants discriminate on the basis of sex because … they provide male students with the opportunity to play on boys football teams but do not offer female students the opportunity to play on girls football teams."

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

The lawsuit asks the court to certify the complaint as a class action and to grant preliminary and permanent injunctions ordering the school districts and the Utah High School Activities Association to offer girls high school football teams.

Granite, Jordan and Canyons school districts, Superintendents Martin Bates, Patrice Johnson and James Briscoe, respectively, and the Utah High Activities Association are named as defendants.

The complaint claims each of the school districts has "historically limited and currently limit opportunities to girls to participate in sports as compared to boys," as demonstrated by charts that compared numbers of girls to numbers of boys who have participated in sports at each district's schools over the past three years.

Ben Horsley, spokesman for the Granite School District, said the school district regularly reviews students' athletic opportunities to ensure it is in compliance with Title IX.

"This includes surveys with our students and with our coaches to identify participation levels. We have altered opportunities in the past based on interest levels for both sexes and will continue to do so in the future. The (Utah) High School Activities Association does not currently sanction a girls-only high school football league and as such we don't offer one.

"It does not appear there is sufficient interest level any time in the near future for such a league to not only to have sufficient numbers at one school, but sufficient numbers at multiple schools in order to host a formal league. If that were to change in the future, we're happy to provide those opportunities down the road," Horsley said.

Canyons School District spokesman Jeff Haney said the school district will continue to review the complaint.

"Right now our schools support our student athletes, both boys and girls, as they compete in activities that are sponsored by the Utah High School Activities Association. All those UHSAA-sanctioned events we have a corresponding sport for. There's opportunities for all of our student athletes to excel on the playing field and in the classroom.

"Schools have responded to demands and to adhere to the Title IX requirements. Just recently lacrosse for both boys and girls were added to the list of the UHSAA sanctioned sports, that's because there was a demand and we also could add the sport for the boys and the girls, which would satisfy the Title IX requirements," Haney said.

Neither the Jordan School District nor the UHSAA immediately responded to requests for comment.

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The complaint maintains that "there is sufficient interest and ability among female students attending high schools in the three districts who want to play football to sustain viable teams and a reasonable expectation of interscholastic competition for those teams."

If there were only 14 girls who wanted to play football at any given high school, that would be sufficient to form a viable high school football team, the complaint states.

One of the plaintiffs, S.G., helped form an all girls football league in spring 2015 called the Utah Girls Tackle Football League Inc. The majority of the participants lived in Jordan School District boundaries.

The organization limited participation to 50 girls the first year. The spots were filled in a week, according to court documents. The following year, participation expanded to 100 girls and then to 200 girls in spring 2017.

"Participation in the UGTFL is expected to continue to grow exponentially," the filing states.

If girls had their own high school football teams, interest would increase because "they could play for their high school team on the high school football field on Friday nights under the lights with cheerleaders and the school band supporting them; they could earn a varsity letter and other awards and recognition that are considered by many colleges and universities in making admission and scholarship decisions; and they would have higher quality coaches," court documents state.

Moreover they could compete for regional and state championships, earn credit toward graduation and "they could have their accomplishments highlighted and recognized during school pep rallies, in school newspapers and websites, on school social media pages, and in local and national news outlets."

Currently, the Utah High School Activities sanctions boys and girls soccer, tennis, golf, cross country, track and field, swimming, basketball and lacrosse. It also sanctions football, baseball and wrestling for boys; and volleyball, softball and drill team for girls.

In Utah, high school girls can play on boys high school football teams and wrestle with and against boys.

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