Latest news with #BeckyPepper-Jackson
UPI
03-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Supreme Court agrees to hear two transgender student athletics cases
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. in June of 2024. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI. | License Photo July 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday it will hear the cases of two transgender students who seek to play sports in their home states, which both ban transgender students from participating in girls or women's sports. Becky Pepper-Jackson of West Virginia and Lindsay Hecox of Idaho have challenged such bans and had previously won injunctions that permit them to play on teams for girls and women. "We are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the Save Women's Sports Act because it complies with the U.S. Constitution and complies with Title IX," said West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey Thursday. "And most importantly: it protects women and girls by ensuring the playing field is safe and fair." The ACLU said in a press release Thursday that the "two cases charge the bans with violating the rights of transgender and cisgender female students under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution." "In addition, West Virginia vs. [Becky Pepper-Jackson] argues that the bans violate Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs," the statement continued. "Federal courts have blocked enforcement of these bans in both lawsuits." Pepper-Jackson, 15, receives puberty-blocking medication, while Hecox, 24, has received testosterone suppression and estrogen treatments. The court granted petitions for writs of certiorari for both their cases, for which oral arguments are expected to happen later this year, with rulings anticipated to come down by June of 2026. The court's decision to hear the case comes two weeks after its conservative majority ruled to uphold a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for young people. "Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth," said ACLU lawyer Joshua Block, who is part of the legal team that represents both students on Thursday. "We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play," he added.
Politico
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Supreme Court takes up two cases challenging transgender sports bans
The West Virginia lawsuit was on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender middle schooler who was looking to try out for her school's girls cross-country team. The states that filed the petitions for the cases want the Supreme Court to decide whether West Virginia's and Idaho's laws restricting transgender student participation violate federal law. | Ted Shaffrey/AP By Bianca Quilantan 07/03/2025 10:22 AM EDT The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to take up two cases in which transgender athletes have challenged state laws barring them from competing in women and girls sports. The states that filed the petitions for West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox want the Supreme Court to decide whether West Virginia's and Idaho's laws restricting transgender student participation violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX, the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination. The West Virginia lawsuit was filed in 2021 on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender middle schooler who was looking to try out for her school's girls cross-country team and has played sports on teams that match her gender identity for several seasons.
Los Angeles Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court to decide if federal law bars transgender athletes from women's teams
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to weigh in on the growing controversy over transgender athletes and decide if federal law bars transgender girls from women's school sports teams. 'Biological boys should not compete on girls' athletics teams,' West Virginia's attorney general said in an appeal the court voted to hear. The appeal had the backing of 26 other Republican-led states as well as President Trump. In recent weeks, Trump threatened to cut off education funds to California because a transgender athlete participated in a women's track and field competition. Four years ago, West Virginia adopted its Save Women's Sports Act but the measure has been blocked as discriminatory by the 4th Circuit Court in 2-1 decision. Idaho filed a similar appeal after their laws were blocked by the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco. The court said it would hear that case together with the West Virginia case. At issue is the meaning of Title IX, the federal education law which has been credited with opening the door for the vast expansion of women's sports. Schools and colleges were told they must give girls equal opportunities in athletics by providing them with separate sports teams. In the past decade, however, states and their schools divided on the question of who can participate on the girls team. Is it only those who were girls at birth or can it also include those whose gender identity is female? West Virginia told the court its 'legislature concluded that biological boys should compete on boys' and co-ed teams but not girls' teams. This separation made sense, the legislature found, because of the 'inherent physical differences between biological males and biological females'.' California and most Democratic states allow transgender girls to compete in sports competitions for women. In 2013, the Legislature said a student 'shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and with his or her gender identity.' The Supreme Court had put off a decision on this issue while the divide among the states grew. Two years ago, the justices turned down a fast-track appeal from West Virginia's lawyers on a 7-2 vote and allowed a 12-year old transgender girl to run on the girls' cross country team. Becky Pepper-Jackson and her mother sued after the school principal said she was barred by the state's law from competing on the girls' teams at her middle school in Bridgeport, W. Va. She 'has lived as a girl in all aspects of her life for years and receives puberty-delaying treatment and estrogen hormone therapy, so has not experienced (and will not experience) endogenous puberty,' her mother said in support of their lawsuit. ACLU lawyers said then the court should stand aside. They said B.P.J. was eager to participate in sports but was 'too slow to compete in the track events' on the girls team. Last year, West Virginia tried again and urged the Supreme Court to review the 4th Circuit's decision and uphold its restrictions on transgender athletes. The state attorneys also said the would-be middle school athlete had become a track star. 'This spring, B.P.J. placed top three in every track event B.P.J. competed in, winning most. B.P.J. beat over 100 girls, displacing them over 250 times while denying multiple girls spots and medals in the conference championship. B.P.J. won the shot put by more than three feet while placing second in discus,' they told the court. Last year, the court opted to rule first in a Tennessee case to decide if states may prohibit puberty blockers, hormones and other medical treatments for young teens who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. On June 18, the court's conservative majority said state lawmakers had the authority to restrict medical treatments for adolescents who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, noting the ongoing debate over the long-term risks and benefits. The ruling turned aside the contention that law reflected unconstitutional sex discrimination. On Thursday, the justices released their final orders list before their summer recess granting review of new cases to be heard in the fall. Included were the cases of West Virginia vs. BJP and Little vs. Hecox. In response to the appeals, ACLU lawyers accused the state of seeking to 'create a false sense of national emergency' based on a legal 'challenge by one transgender girl.' The lawsuit said the state measure was 'part of a concerted nationwide effort to target transgender youth for unequal treatment.' The suit contended the law violated Title IX and was unconstitutional because it discriminated against student athletes based on their gender identity. West Virginia's lawyers saw a threat to Title IX and women's sports. They said the rulings upholding transgender rights 'took a law designed to ensure meaningful competitive opportunities for women and girls—based on biological differences—and fashioned it into a lever for males to force their way onto girls' sports teams based on identity, destroying the very opportunities Title IX was meant to protect.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
West Virginia track state champion makes political statement during award ceremony
CHARLESTON, (WBOY) — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey was not the only person to make a public statement about the currently unenforceable Save Women's Sports Act over the weekend. During the West Virginia State Track Meet over the weekend, Hadley Horne, a senior from Grafton High School, became a repeat West Virginia state champion in the Class AA girls 300 meter hurdles, with a time of 45.41, more than a second faster than second place and the third fastest time across all three classifications. During her award ceremony, Horne chose to wear a shirt that said 'Men don't belong in women's sports.' A photo of the ceremony is going viral on social media, with thousands of people voicing their opinions on the Save Women's Sports Act, the West Virginia law that says student athletes must compete based on the sex they were assigned at birth. The law was deemed unconstitutional by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year and is not currently enforceable. North central West Virginia athletes win 26 events at State Track Meet Horne's shirt was likely in response to transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson competing in the girls AAA discus and shot put at the championship meet. Pepper-Jackson, who was assigned male at birth and competed as a freshman for Bridgeport High School, finished 3rd place in the girls discus throw and 8th place in the girls shot put, scoring a total of seven points for Bridgeport's girls team. The case of Becky Pepper-Jackson (B.P.J.) vs the West Virginia Board of Education regarding West Virginia's Save Women's Sports Act has been ongoing since 2021. Gov. Morrisey, who has been trying to get the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, said on Saturday that he is 'urging officials to keep separate scores so that the true winners can be awarded once we win in court,' calling Pepper-Jackson competing on the girls' side 'wrong and unfair.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
