The issue of transgender athletes made headlines last week when the University of Pennsylvania agreed to restore the records of female athletes that were “misappropriated by male athletes allowed to compete in female categories.”
What’s more, the Supreme Court revealed on Thursday that it has agreed to hear arguments over state bans on transgender athletes competing in school sports.
State bans poised for SCOTUS review
According to the Washington Post, the Supreme Court will review transgender school sports bans that have been passed in Idaho and West Virginia.
Those prohibitions are being challenged in separate lawsuits filed by transgender students Lindsay Hecox and Becky Pepper-Jackson.
Hecox is a Boise State University student who sought to compete on the school’s track team while Pepper-Jackson is a 15-year-old who competed in track and field as a middle-schooler.
However, the cases have far wider implications, as the Post noted that a total of 27 states have passed similar pieces of legislation in recent years.
LGBTQ advocates slam decision to hear cases
Shannon Minter serves as legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, and she voiced criticism for America’s highest judicial body.
“It is a shame for the Supreme Court to escalate this issue needlessly at the very moment when there are good faith efforts to come up with reasonable, middle-ground approaches,” Minter said in an email to the Post.
“This Supreme Court seems disturbingly eager to cut short these important policy and political discussions. There is no good reason for the Court to take these cases at this early stage,” she added.
In contrast, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey put out a statement that expressed hope that his state’s transgender sports ban will be upheld.
Morrisey, who helped defend the ban when he was state attorney general, said he is “optimistic that after hearing the case, the Supreme Court will restore sanity to athletics and allow West Virginia to enforce its commonsense law that prevents boys from competing in girl’s sports.”
Tennessee transgender care ban upheld
This is not the first time that the Supreme Court has recently weighed in on transgender issues, as last month it upheld Tennessee’s ban on so-called “gender affirming care” for minors.
“Our role is not ‘to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic’ of the law before us … but only to ensure that it does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment,” as Fox News quoted from the opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts..
“Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process,” he added.
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Author: Adam Peters
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