Washington (AP) – The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to hear a case of state restrictions in which school sports teams of transgender students can join.
Just two weeks after maintaining a ban on the gender-known care of transgender youth, the judges said that they would check the decisions of the lower court in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia. The case is argued in autumn.
The nationwide struggle for the participation of transgender girls in girls’ sports teams has competed at both state and federal level, since the Republicans have the problem as a struggle for sporting fairness for women and girls.
More than two dozen states have enacted laws that run out of transgender women and girls at certain sports competitions. Some guidelines were blocked in court.
At the federal level, the Trump administration submitted complaints and initiated investigations into state and school guidelines that enabled transgender athletes to move freely. This week, the University of Pennsylvania modified a trio of school documents from transgender swimmers Lia Thomas and said that it would apologize to female athletes, which would be “disadvantaged” by participating in the swimming team of women, part of a decision of a case of German law.
Regardless of this, the Senate Democrats in March blocked a republican urge for a national ban.
Republican President Donald Trump also acted aggressively in other areas with transgender people, including the removal of transgender troops from military service. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the fall of the transgender service members to undo the deep dishes that had blocked him.
A current survey by the Associated Press-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research showed that around 7 out of 10 US people grow that transgender athletes are not allowed to participate in girls and women’s sports at high school, college or in the professional level. This view was shared by about 9 out of 10 Republicans and about half of the Democrats.
West Virginia appeals against a decision with a lower place, in which it was found that the ban violates the rights of Becky Pepper-Jackson, which has been publicly identified as a girl since her third grade. Pepper-Jackson sued the state when she was in the middle school because she wanted to compete in the cross country and track team.
In the past school year, Pepper-Jackson qualified for the West Virginia Girls High School State Track Meet and took third place in the discus throw and eighth place in the shot in the division of the AAA class.
The 4th Court of Appeal The US district decided in two areas for Pepper-Jackson, according to the same protective clause of the constitution and the pioneering federal law, which is known as the title IX that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in education.
“It is a great day because the athletes in West Virginia hear their voices. The people in West Virginia know that it is unfair to let male athletes compete against women. Therefore we have said goodbye to this healthy right in which women’s sports are kept for women,” said the Attorney General John McCuskey in a statement.
Pepper-Jackson lawyers who asked the court to reject the appeal said that they were ready to defend the decisions in the lower square.
“Like any other educational program, school -sporting programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status. For the same reasons, transkinder play sports, commitment, teamwork and simply fun with their friends,” said the Joshua block of the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement. Lambda Legal, which is committed to LGBTQ rights, also represents Pepper-Jackson.
In 2020 Idaho was the nation’s first state to ban transgender women and girls to play in women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools, universities and universities.
The ACLU and the Legal Voice of the Women’s Rights Group sued Idaho on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, who hoped to run for Boise State University. An athlete in the Boise region, who is not a transgender, also joined the lawsuit because she fears that the law could force her to subject invasive tests to prove her biological sex if someone questions her gender.
The state asked for reviewing the Supreme Court after the lower courts blocked the prohibition of the state while the lawsuit continued.
The judges did not respond to a third case from Arizona, who raises the same problem.
