Girl, 11, Loses Federal Court Challenge Against State’s Trans Sports Ban
January 8, 2023A judge has upheld West Virginia’s ban on trans girls participating in school sports.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Judge Joseph R. Goodwin upheld H.B. 3293, known by proponents as the “Save Women’s Sports Bill,” a year and a half after issuing a temporary injunction of the law, according to LGBTQ Nation.
In June 2021, 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson along with the ACLU of West Virginia sued the state’s Department of Education, saying H.B. 3293, which had been passed the previous April, violates both the Constitution and Title IX – the federal law that bans discrimination in education on the basis of sex. Pepper-Jackson had been denied the opportunity to run with the girls’ cross-country team at her middle school.
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education filed a joint brief in support of the plaintiff, the Biden administration’s first such action addressing the wave of anti-trans legislation in 2021.
At the time, Judge Goodwin said Becky Pepper-Jackson had a good chance of winning the case and rejected the state’s argument that H.B. 3293 doesn’t discriminate against trans girls as it treats all people assigned male at birth in the same manner.
Goodwin wrote, “[She] has lived as a girl for years. She has competed on the all-girls cheerleading team at her school. She changed her name to a name more commonly associated with girls. And of the girls at her middle school, B.P.J. is the only girl who will be prevented from participating in school-sponsored athletics. Here, there is an inescapable conclusion that [the law] discriminates on the basis of transgender status.”
Not issuing an injunction, Goodwin wrote, would result in “irreparable harm.”
The judge’s ruling Thursday changed that.
“I recognize that being transgender is natural and is not a choice,” Goodwin wrote in his decision. “But one’s sex is also natural, and it dictates physical characteristics that are relevant to athletics.”
“The record does make clear that, in passing this law, the legislature intended to prevent transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams,” Goodwin wrote. “But acting to prevent transgender girls, along with all other biological males, from playing on girls’ teams is not unconstitutional if the classification is substantially related to an important government interest.”
“The legislature’s definition of ‘girl’ as being based on ‘biological sex’ is substantially related to the important government interest of providing equal athletic opportunities for females,” Goodwin said.
The ban applies to middle and high schools, as well as colleges in the state. The ACLU said it was reviewing the decision.
West Virginia’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) praised the ruling, saying, “This is not only about simple biology, but fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple. […] Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious and we must safeguard that future.”
There are “inherent physical differences” between females and males, Judge Goodwin noted. Despite Pepper-Jackson taking puberty-blocking medications, other transgender girls may not have access to those therapies or may begin gender-affirming care after puberty.
“While some females may be able to outperform some males, it is generally accepted that, on average, males outperform females athletically because of inherent physical differences between the sexes,” Goodwin wrote. “This is not an overbroad generalization, but rather a general principle that realistically reflects the average physical differences between the sexes.”
West Virginia’s Secondary School Activities Commission, which oversees the state’s scholastic sports programs, said it had not received any complaints about transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports prior to the Save the Women’s Sports Bill’s passage.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Utah Ban On Trans Youth Playing In Girls’ Sports Blocked By Judge
Pennsylvania House Passes Anti-Trans Sports Ban As Governor Vows To Veto Bill
Kentucky Governor Vetoes Cruel Trans Sports Ban
Utah Governor Spencer Cox Vows To Veto Harmful Anti-Trans Sports Ban
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews