The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that West Virginia’s ban on transgender girls competing on girls’ sports teams, otherwise known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, violated a transgender student’s rights under Title IX.
The plaintiff, a 13-year-old transgender girl named Becky Pepper-Jackson, had filed suit against the West Virginia State Board of Education in 2021, claiming the act violated her right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment as well as her rights under Title IX.
The appeals court sided with the plaintiff on the Title IX claim, stating that applying the act would treat her worse than people to whom she is similarly situated, depriving her of meaningful athletic opportunities based on sex. The judgement also expressed recognition of the emotional and dignitary harm that the plaintiff would face under the act.
Notably, the court did not overrule the law completely or prevent officials from distinguishing between teams for boys and girls. The judgement pointed out that Title IX does not necessarily require schools to allow every transgender girl to play on girls’ teams, without considering aspects like whether they have gone through puberty and experienced elevated testosterone levels. However, the decision did shed light on the implications of the law for someone like the plaintiff, who had been living as a girl for over five years and had only played on girls’ teams.
The issue of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, where the lower court sided with the defendants, was sent back to the lower court for a fresh consideration.
Following the court’s decision, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey expressed his intention to appeal, highlighting the need to protect women’s sports and ensure fair competition.
West Virginia is among 24 states that restrict transgender students’ participation in sports in line with their gender identity. Legal developments continue to unfold nationwide, such as in Ohio, where the legislature’s veto against transgender sports participation was recently temporarily blocked by a court, and in Wisconsin, where a bill segregating sports based on assigned sex at birth was vetoed by the governor.