SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  — A 15-year-old boy is challenging a policy that prevents high school boys from competing on girls’ dance teams in South Dakota.

Attorneys on Thursday filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the South Dakota High School Activities Association on behalf of Freddie Linden and his mother.

Linden tried to join the program at Dakota Valley High School in North Sioux City, South Dakota, after he graduated from middle school but was told he couldn’t.

According to the lawsuit, the association’s policy allows girls to participate on boys’ teams when there is no girls’ team. But the policy does not allow boys to participate on girls’ teams if the school does not field a team for boys.