Latest news with #SaveWomen'sSportsAct
New York Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Texas Attorney General sues US Masters Swimming after trans athlete controversy in San Antonio
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday he is suing US Masters Swimming (USMS), a competitive swimming membership organization with over 60,000 adult swimmers. The lawsuit is a response to an event in San Antonio where a biological male trans athlete won five women's gold medals. Advertisement Multiple female competitors told Fox News Digital after the meet they did not know the athlete was a biological male. 'I'm suing US Masters Swimming for engaging in illegal practices by allowing men to compete in women's competitions,' Paxton said in a post on X announcing the lawsuit. 'The organization has cowered to radical activists pushing gender warfare, and this lawsuit will hold USMS accountable for its actions.' Paxton's statement alleges USMS engaged in 'false, deceptive, and misleading practices by allowing men to compete in women's events.' Fox News Digital has reached out to USMS for comment. Advertisement In June 2023, Texas passed the Save Women's Sports Act, which bans trans athletes from competing in girls and women's sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificates. The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error. 4 Transgender swimmer Ana Caldas won five gold medals at a US Masters Swimming championship in San Antonio. Paxton previously launched an investigation into USMS after the conrtoversial April incident. Advertisement The trans swimmer, 47-year-old Ana Caldas, dominated all five races the athlete competed in, taking gold in the women's age 45-49 category in five races, including the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, freestyle and the 100-yard individual medley. Louisiana woman and long-time swimmer Wendy Enderle said she filed a request for an eligibility review after finding out that Caldas was transgender through a news article about the April incident. 'I feel betrayed. Plain and simple,' Enderle previously told Fox News Digital. 4 The 47-year-old trans swimmer dominated all five races that the athlete signed up for. FINIS Advertisement Enderle said she did not introduce herself to Caldas until a USMS meet in Little Rock, Arkansas, in January. Upon meeting Caldas, Enderle noticed the athlete's muscles and height but still assumed Caldas was a female. 'I knew there was something, but I didn't know what, I had no idea she was a trans female up until this past Wednesday after the meet,' Enderle said. 'I was shocked. … It makes me concerned, it makes me mad.' 4 Some biological women who competed said they did not know Caldas was a biological male. Fellow USMS women's swimmer Angie Griffin also swam with Caldas in April without knowledge of Caldas' birth gender. The shock of learning the news about Caldas prompted Griffin to write a formal letter of complaint to USMS. The letter also asked the organization to 're-evaluate' the recent Spring National Championship and overhaul its gender eligibility policy. Advertisement Griffin competed against Caldas in three races in San Antonio and finished behind the trans athlete in the 50-yard breaststroke and 100-yard individual medley. 'I couldn't stop thinking about how the integrity of individual competition had been compromised. Why doesn't USMS follow the same competitive standards as the rest of the world and NCAA? Why are athletes asked to accept less transparency and fairness?' Griffin previously told Fox News Digital 'I paid my entry fees, airfare and hotel, trusting I'd be competing in a women's division defined by biological sex. I deserved to know the truth before stepping onto the blocks.' The US Masters Swimming Board of Directors and Rules Committee updated its participation guidelines last month. Advertisement 'USMS allows members to register for the competition category that aligns with their gender identity and/or expression and to participate in sanctioned events in that category,' the new guidelines state. 4 Swimmer Angie Griffin wrote a formal letter of complaint to USMS. USMS 'However, swimmers will not be included in Recognition Programs (as defined above) unless they are swimming in the competition category that aligns with their sex assigned at birth or they meet the eligibility requirements.' To be eligible for the US Masters Swimming's women's recognition programs, the policy states, 'Members of the Female Sex are eligible for Recognition Programs in the women's category, regardless of their gender identity or gender expression. 'Members with 46 XY DSD whose gender identity or gender expression is female are eligible for Recognition Programs in the women's category if they can establish to USMS's comfortable satisfaction that their sex assigned at birth is female.'
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.
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.'
The Hill
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
West Virginia asks Supreme Court to hear trans athlete case after ruling on gender-affirming care
West Virginia on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to hear a case against a state law barring transgender athletes from girls' and women's school sports teams, citing the high court's recent decision to uphold a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors. In a statement, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey (R) said the state is confident in the merits of its case and defense of its law, the 'Save Women's Sports Act' that former Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed in 2021. 'The law is constitutional and complies with Title IX,' McCuskey said Tuesday, referencing the federal law against sex discrimination that President Trump's administration has said prohibits transgender girls from participating on girls' school sports teams. McCuskey praised the justice's ruling in the Tennessee case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, as 'a landmark decision' but said it did little to answer the specific question West Virginia first posed to the court in 2023. 'That is why we are urging the Supreme Court, through our supplemental filing, to take our case and allow the women and girls of West Virginia to begin enjoying the protections of the Save Women's Sports Act,' he said. The Supreme Court rejected a previous request to lift a lower court order that has since 2023 prevented West Virginia from enforcing its law against a now-high school student who throws discus and shot put for her school's girls' track-and-field team. When the student, Becky Pepper Jackson, first sued the state over its restrictions on transgender athletes, she was 11 years old and in middle school. Last spring, West Virginia's former attorney general, now-Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R), asked the high court to intervene for the second time. The justices have yet to respond. West Virginia's supplemental filing argues the Supreme Court's Skrmetti ruling warrants a fresh review of the law, which it says confronts 'a serious social debate.' A previous decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the measure violates Title IX and the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. 'United States v. Skrmetti disclaims any guidance on the Title IX question presented here, and the decision's equal-protection analysis does not address critical questions unique to athletics,' the filing, submitted by McCuskey, the Alliance Defending Freedom and attorneys representing members of the West Virginia Board of Education, says. It asks that the justices take up the case rather than sending it back to the 4th Circuit for further review, citing incongruity in how federal courts have responded to challenges of similar laws in over half the country. 'A remand will not resolve these circuit conflicts,' the filing argues. 'Assume the unlikely scenario where the Fourth Circuit changes course on remand and holds that a law assigning athletic teams by sex does not differentiate based on transgender status or, alternatively, holds that transgender status does not constitute a suspect class. Both circuit splits would remain: the first would move from 2–3 to 1–4, and the second from 4–2 to 3–3. The Court should thus review now.' The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Jackson, did not immediately return a request for comment on the filing. In its ruling last week, the Supreme Court declined address whether transgender status is a 'quasi-suspect class' under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In a concurring opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that transgender people are neither a 'suspect' nor 'quasi-suspect' class, classifications that would trigger heightened scrutiny when laws discriminate against them. 'Beyond the treatment of gender dysphoria, transgender status implicates several other areas of legitimate regulatory policy — ranging from access to restrooms to eligibility for boys' and girls' sports teams,' she wrote. 'If laws that classify based on transgender status necessarily trigger heightened scrutiny, then the courts will inevitably be in the business of 'closely scrutiniz[ing] legislative choices' in all these domains.' West Virginia's filing on Tuesday says the Supreme Court should grant its petition and explain that laws restricting trans athletes' participation in girls' sports do not classify based on transgender status 'or hold that transgender-based classifications do not affect a suspect class.' The filing also argues that the high court must decide whether its reasoning in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shields employees from discrimination based on their sex or gender identity, can be applied to other statutes, including Title IX. The Supreme Court declined to answer that question in its Skrmetti decision. 'Girls deserve a safe, fair playing field today — not years from now — and the ruling's present harm to women and girls is stark,' the filing says, referring to the 4th Circuit ruling that is blocking the law. The Supreme Court must act to resolve a question 'of national importance,' the filing argues, referencing an executive order signed by Trump in February that threatens to revoke federal funding from states and schools that continue allowing trans athletes to participate in girls' and women's sports. 'Should they follow an executive order that threatens all their funding—even funding unrelated to athletics? Or should they follow a court order that has not yet been applied to them?' the filing states. 'The years of delay that would follow were the Court to grant, vacate, and remand here would not help, especially when Skrmetti did not purport to address the legal questions that drive this case.' 'The Court should take up this petition,' the filing adds, 'and resolve this 'important issue' once and for all.'
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.
