Transgender student athletes are now prohibited from participating on teams for women’s and girls’ sports in 18 states, including West Virginia.
A federal judge in West Virginia upheld a state statute that prohibits biological male student athletes from playing on girl’s school sports teams if they present and identify as female.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of middle schooler Becky Pepper-Jackson, and that action resulted in the ruling (ACLU). The “Save Women’s Sports Bill” was contested.
Federal judge rules West Virginia law restricting transgender athletes is constitutional https://t.co/fyJhwGNHdK
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An 11-year-old girl who wanted to try out for her school’s girls cross-country team was the subject of the lawsuit. She was allegedly denied rights guaranteed by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, according to her counsel. They went on to say that the law was especially targeted at and designed to have an impact on transgender girls.
Judge of the Southern District for West Virginia, Joseph R. Goodwin, claimed that, “courts have no business formulating such definitions, and I would be hard-pressed to find many other situations where one’s sex and gender are relevant legislative factors. Getting into the business of defining a girl or woman.”
The Virginia judge made it quite plain that males and women had different bodies by nature.
Goodwin added, “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. This is not an overbroad generalization, but rather a general principle that realistically reflects the average physical differences between the sexes.”
According to the ACLU of West Virginia, it was reviewing the decision with co-counsel. The ban applies to middle and high schools as well as colleges.
