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NYC HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER GAME CANCELED AFTER GROUP OF ABOUT 30...

GIGI AND BELLA HADID’S FATHER SENDS RACIST, HOMOPHOBIC MESSAGES...

TEXAS 'CRAZY PLANE LADY' GOES ANTI-WOKE WITH BIKINI PIC HOLDING...

US News


FEDERAL APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS WEST VIRGINIA TRANSGENDER SPORTS BAN

By Associated Press

Published April 16, 2024, 1:49 p.m. ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal appeals court has overturned a West Virginia
transgender sports ban, finding that the law violates Title IX, the federal
civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.

The ruling Tuesday from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals blocks a West
Virginia law banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.

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The court said the law cannot lawfully be applied to a 13-year-old girl who has
been taking puberty-blocking medication and publicly identified as a girl since
she was in the third grade.

The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned West Virginia’s ban on
transgender girls competing on girls’ school sports teams. AP Photo/Steve
Helber, File

In February 2023, the court had blocked the state’s bid to kick Becky Pepper
Jackson off her middle school track and field team if the law were enforced.

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EXPLORE MORE


NYC HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER GAME CANCELED AFTER GROUP OF ABOUT 30 MIGRANTS REFUSE TO
LEAVE THE FIELD -- EVEN AFTER COPS SHOWED UP


GIGI AND BELLA HADID’S FATHER SENDS RACIST, HOMOPHOBIC MESSAGES TO CONGRESSMAN
RITCHIE TORRES


TEXAS 'CRAZY PLANE LADY' GOES ANTI-WOKE WITH BIKINI PIC HOLDING ULTRA RIGHT BEER
-- AND OFFERS OPINION ON TRANS ATHLETES

Judge Toby Heytens wrote that offering her a “choice” between not participating
in sports and participating only on boys teams “is no real choice at all.”

“The defendants cannot expect that B.P.J. will countermand her social
transition, her medical treatment, and all the work she has done with her
schools, teachers, and coaches for nearly half her life by introducing herself
to teammates, coaches, and even opponents as a boy,” Heytens wrote.

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The court Tuesday ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union, its West
Virginia chapter and LGBTQ interest group Lambda Legal, which filed a lawsuit in
2021 against the state and county boards of education and their superintendents
as defendants.


SEE ALSO


TRANSGENDER GIRL CAN RUN GIRLS TRACK IN WEST VIRGINIA, SUPREME COURT RULES

Republican Gov. Jim Justice had signed a bill into law earlier that year.

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“This is a tremendous victory for our client, transgender West Virginians, and
the freedom of all youth to play as who they are,” ACLU West Virginia attorney
Joshua Block said in a statement.

In finding that the law violates Title IX when applied to the girl, the court
noted that she has been publicly living as a girl for more than five years and
changed her name, and the state of West Virginia has issued her a birth
certificate listing her as female.

The court said she takes puberty blocking medication and also takes estrogen
hormone therapy. Starting in elementary school, she has participated only on
girls’ athletic teams.

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“B.P.J. has shown that applying the act to her would treat her worse than people
to whom she is similarly situated, deprive her of any meaningful athletic
opportunities, and do so on the basis of sex. That is all Title IX requires,”
Heytens wrote.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said he was
“deeply disappointed” in the decision.

“I will keep fighting to safeguard Title IX. We must keep working to protect
women’s sports so that women’s safety is secured and girls have a truly fair
playing field,” the Attorney General added. “We know the law is correct and will
use every available tool to defend it.”

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Sports participation is one of the main fronts in legislative and legal battles
in recent years over the role of transgender people in US public life.

Most Republican-controlled states have passed restrictions on participation, as
well as bans on gender-affirming health care for minors.

Several have also restricted which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender people
can use, particularly in schools.

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West Virginia is one of at least 24 states with a law on the books barring
transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls sports
competitions.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he was “deeply
disappointed” by the court’s decision. AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File

The bans are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

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In addition to West Virginia, judges have temporarily put enforcement of the
bans on hold in Arizona, Idaho and Utah.

But the 2nd Circuit revived a challenge last year to Connecticut’s policy of
letting transgender girls compete in girls sports, sending it back to a lower
court without ruling on its merits.

A ban in Ohio is to take effect later this month.

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The Biden administration originally planned to release a new federal Title IX
rule — the law forbids discrimination based on sex in education — addressing
both campus sexual assault and transgender athletes.

Earlier this year, the department decided to split them into separate rules, and
the athletics rule now remains in limbo.


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Filed under circuit court of appeals ,  Title IX ,  transgender ,  transgender
athletes ,  transgender rights ,  west virginia ,  4/16/24

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