[Yesterday’s] Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox upholds Idaho and West Virginia state laws that categorically exclude all transgender girls and women from playing on girls’ and women’s school teams regardless of age, sport, or level of competition. The ruling cites the 1974 Javits Amendment as allowing sport-specific exceptions to Title IX’s prohibitions against sex-based discrimination in education.
Importantly, the Court’s opinion does not require any state to categorically bar transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams, or transgender boys from participating on boys’ sports teams.
Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) said:
“[Yesterday’s] ruling gets it wrong. And it’s kids who will suffer for it. By upholding these blanket bans, the Supreme Court has allowed states to deny students even the chance to try out for a school team, simply because they are transgender. Policies that categorically bar students don’t advance fairness; they mandate exclusion.
But this ruling is not the end of the story. Many states have developed thoughtful, evidence-based policies that treat students as individual athletes – and those remain in place.
When a law bars every transgender girl regardless of age, hormones, or physiology, it isn’t about competitive fairness. It’s about keeping transgender kids out. We can protect women’s sports without doing that. Most of the country already does.”
Chris Erchull, Senior Staff Attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) said:
“This decision harms transgender students and their families, most directly Becky Pepper Jackson, and the other transgender students whose lives and educational opportunities have been upended by their states’ bans, now condoned by this Court. The Court’s conclusion that school sports are a “zero-sum” game is just wrong: every athlete knows sports are also about building character, developing discipline, camaraderie with teammates and competitors, and opportunities for young people to learn what they are capable of on the track, court, or field. This decision denies those opportunities to too many transgender students.
But we can do better. This ruling does not require any state to follow West Virginia’s or Idaho’s cruel, overly-broad approach, and it does not mandate categorical bans on transgender students participating in school sports. It also leaves intact broader nondiscrimination protections for transgender students in education, including Title IX’s protections against sex discrimination for LGBTQ+ students. Discrimination has no place in our schools, and we can and should ensure that every student has the opportunity to learn, to thrive, and to know that they belong.”
— from a GLAD Law press release