Women and girls fighting to preserve their sports will soon have their day in Court. On July 3, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a bid by Idaho and West Virginia to uphold their state laws banning males from female sports teams.
Both states are appealing decisions from the federal appeals courts siding with the transgender athletes who are challenging the bans.
The plaintiffs claimed the laws violated their civil rights under Title IX and the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Mary covered the West Virginia decision last year here.
There are currently 27 states with similar laws.
Biological males who “identify” as females have increasingly taken spots from women both “on the field and on the winner’s podium,” turning them into “bystanders in their own sports,” the Idaho filing reads. Last year, the New York Post reported a UN study showing female athletes had lost nearly 900 medals to transgender rivals competing against them.
That turns Title IX on its head, harming the women and girls it was enacted to protect by prohibiting sex-based discrimination in school sports.
Title IX has always been understood to allow sex-specific sports teams and privacy spaces. And courts have long held that men and women may be constitutionally separated by biological sex when it comes to sports, according to the West Virginia court filing.
The Court has not announced a date for oral argument in the two cases[*], which presumably will be consolidated.
Its order granting both States’ petitions for writ of certiorari was released yesterday and celebrated across X:
[*]The Idaho petition only raises the question of whether its ban violates the Equal Protection Clause.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY