US Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female school and college sports
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can ban transgender women from competing in women’s school and college sports.
The court evaluated the cases of students who challenged the ban on participation in two different states. Two states, Idaho and West Virginia, have passed laws requiring public school and college sports teams to compete based on the sex recorded at birth.
One of the two challenges is that the ban violates equal rights protections in the U.S. Constitution. The other says it conflicts with civil rights laws.
More than two dozen states have enacted bans since Idaho did so in 2020.
Under these state bans, transgender women, a biological male who identifies as female, are not allowed to compete in women’s sports in schools and colleges.
All nine justices on the court ruled that the state bans did not violate a civil rights law called Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools.
But the justices were ideologically divided on whether the bans violated the constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Six conservative justices said it did not violate the constitution, but three liberal justices disagreed.
“The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of sports for women and girls across America,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the decision.
In her partial dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority opinion applied a “diminished view of equal protection” to sports.
The challenge launched in Idaho came from long-distance runner Lindsay Hecox, who filed the challenge shortly after the law went into effect. He was later granted injunctive relief by both the district court and the appellate court.
Barbara Ehardt, the state lawmaker who introduced the legislation, said at the time it was introduced that the law would ensure that “boys and men cannot replace girls and women in sports, because that’s not fair.”
But in an appeal decision, a three-judge panel ruled that the Idaho law violated constitutional rights. It was stated that the state had failed to provide evidence that the ban protected “gender equality and opportunities for female athletes”.
President Donald Trump has made the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports a regular focus of his 2024 election campaign. Last year, she signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender women from competing on women’s sports teams.
Following this decision, the NCAA, the governing body of US collegiate sports, banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Supporters of the bans argued that transgender women have a biological advantage over athletes who were registered as female at birth.
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in March that it would limit the women’s Olympic sports category to biological women, it said its working group had reviewed the latest scientific evidence over the previous 18 months and evaluated the category. He concluded that there was “a clear consensus”, external “The male gender provides a performance advantage in all sports and activities based on strength, power and resistance.”
Opponents of the bans argue they unfairly discriminate against transgender students and debate whether there is a scientific consensus that transgender women and girls have an inherent advantage.
