The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two pivotal cases involving transgender athletes and school sports on Tuesday morning. One case centers on a West Virginia law forbidding males who identify as females from participating in girls’ sports teams. The other looks at a similar ban in Idaho.
The high court’s final decision will come later this year and will have nationwide implications not only for the 25 other states with similar bans but also shape policies that affect transgender-identifying people.
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Justices are determining whether bans in Idaho and West Virginia violate Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.
Transgender athletes filed a lawsuit challenging the laws in their respective states, asserting that they discriminate.
However, West Virginia and Idaho officials contend the laws are necessary to protect female athletes’ safety and fairness in competition.
Both cases have gained national attention, drawing dozens of amicus briefs across the board, from athletes to state attorneys general.
West Virginia v. B.P.J
As CBN News reported, in May 2021, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender student at a West Virginia middle school, filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County Board of Education, the West Virginia Board of Education and State Superintendent of Schools, and the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission to halt a bill that would ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.
Pepper-Jackson wished to join the middle school’s girls’ cross-country team and alleged that West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act or H.B. 3293, violated her federal Title IX rights.
Lainey Armistead, a former West Virginia State University soccer player, wanted to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the bill.
“I believe that protecting fairness in women’s sports is a women’s rights issue,” Armistead said at the time. “This isn’t just about fair play for me: It’s about protecting fairness and safety for female athletes across West Virginia.”
Little v. Hecox
Idaho became the first state to enact a ban to protect women in sports through its Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2020. The measure requires public schools and collegiate sports teams to be designated by biological sex. Women’s teams cannot allow “students of the male sex” to participate, CBS News reports.
If there is a dispute about the student’s sex, the student must undergo a health examination and a consent form that verifies their gender.
Lindsay Hecox, a transgender athlete who takes hormone therapy, wanted to compete on the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University. She did not make the team, but instead chose to participate in women’s club soccer and running.
Hecox filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s law, arguing that it is unconstitutional and violates Title IX.
Madison Kenyon and Mary Kate Marshall competed at Idaho State University and placed behind a transgender student-athlete in various events in 2019 and early 2020, CBS reports. They are defending the law.
According to research published by Concerned Women for America, trans-identifying males have “stolen” over 1,941 gold medals from women and girls in the United States. In addition, trans-identifying athletes have taken over $493,173 in prize money from women in professional sports.
In an op-ed for Fox News, the former athletes wrote, “…imagine how female athletes have felt in recent years, having to compete against males just because they’ve been told that feeling like a woman can make them so. “
“Their make-believe is our hard reality. And some of us have empty spaces on our trophy shelves to prove it,” they expressed.
Meanwhile, hundreds of women’s rights advocates and athletes lined up outside of the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a show of solidarity for the future of females in sports.
“We are telling little girls that they don’t matter,” said Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics. “I promise we won’t be done. We will win these cases. We need to change the cultural conversation. We need every mom in America to stand up for their daughter.”
“Instead of showing off the skill that I had spent my entire life trying to build, we watched a boy slam a ball in our faces,” said Macy Petty, a former collegiate volleyball player, ahead of the hearing.
“We have the power of prayer and truth on our side, and I’m ready to bring in the victory,” she added.
Idaho Governor Brad Little posted a statement to X that he believes “common sense” will prevail.
“Idaho has always led with common sense — it’s why we were the first state in the nation to ban men from competing in women’s sports,” Little posted to X. “I’m confident that same common sense will prevail as the Supreme Court reviews our law that set the precedent in defending girls and women.”
The U.S. Olympic Committee and the NCAA already forbid transgender athletes from competing on sports-teams not consistent with their biological sex.
