U.S. Supreme Court allows transgender girl to compete on her high school’s girls’ track team
Cases of transgender people encountering problems competing continue to come and go in the United States. On this occasion, the Supreme Court has ruled that. a 12-year-old transgender girl can compete on the women’s teams. athletic teams at the high school where she attends while advancing her appeal.
As collected by The New York Timesthe judges issued a temporary injunction so that he may continue to compete. This new order puts on hold an appellate court’s injunction. Two justices issued an opinion of their own and indicated that states have the right to enact laws “which restrict participation in sports of women or girls on the basis of genes or physiological or anatomical characteristics.”
The case began in 2021 following the enforcement of a law in the state of West Virginia that prohibited boys from competing on public school girls’ teams. This law distinguished biological sex and defined it as “the physical form of an individual as either male or female based solely on reproductive biology and genetics of the individual at birth.”
Becky Pepper-Jackson was at the time an 11-year-old girl going into the sixth grade. That’s when the family’s lawyers filed a lawsuit alleging that she discriminated against transgender girls. Becky’s coaches and teammates supported the young girl and the girls from other teams did not object either.
The Federal District Court judge in Charleston initially sided with Becky and issued a preliminary injunction allowing her to compete for more than a year and a half. Despite that initial decision, the judge ultimately ruled against it, in what he considered “a novel and difficult case,” but that “the state law did not violate the Constitution or the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education.”
The judge stated that “no child has been or is likely to be harmed. by B.P.J.’s continued participation in his high school cross country and track and field teams.” His attorneys’ brief to the Supreme Court also states that “although he often finishes in last place, he loves to play, have fun with his friends and try his best.”
Following this Supreme Court decision Becky will be able to compete again until there is a final ruling on her appeal.
