Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced on Wednesday that West Virginia would seek the U.S. Supreme Court to comment on an appeals court decision permitting a transgender athlete to participate on her middle school teams.
Morrisey stated during a press conference in the state Capitol, “We’re not going to allow the elites in the swamp to impose their values on West Virginia citizens.”
Becky Pepper Jackson’s rights under Title IX, the federal civil rights legislation that forbids sex-based discrimination in schools, were violated by West Virginia’s transgender sports ban, according to a 2-1 ruling last week by a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Since the third grade, thirteen-year-old Jackson has openly identified as a girl and taken medication that prevents puberty.
The LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, and its West Virginia affiliate all won their cases in court. Following the bill’s enactment by Republican governor Jim Justice in 2021, they filed lawsuits against the state, local boards of education, and their superintendents.
The state attempted to have her removed from the middle school track and field and cross country teams if the law was implemented, but the appeals court rejected their request in February 2023.
At her county’s middle school championships on April 16, two days after the most recent ruling, Jackson placed second in the discus and won the shot put. Meet statistics show that five participants from a competing school did not compete in the shot put.
The competitors may be seen in an online video entering and exiting the shot-put circle while announcing their intention to not participate.
Morrisey and other supporters gave all five of the students a standing ovation during the news conference on Wednesday.
One of the female athletes who demonstrated at the competition, 14-year-old Emmy Salerno of Shinnston, West Virginia, stated, “My hope is that this case will get revisited, and I’m asking all men and all women that believe in women’s sports to get on board and help us save women’s sports.”
Communications Director Jack Jarvis of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Fairness West Virginia issued a statement following the news conference, stating that incidents such as this one “contribute to a hostile environment where trans youth are much more likely to experience harassment, bullying, and discrimination.”
“Transgender women are women, period,” Jarvis stated. “If you want to support women, you need to support all women. Becky and all of the other trans youth across our state deserve to fully participate in school activities and athletic events.”
One of the key fronts in the current legislative and legal disputes over transgender people’s place in American public life is sports participation.
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The majority of states controlled by Republicans have imposed limitations on involvement and prohibited children from receiving gender-affirming medical therapy. Some have also limited the toilets and locker rooms that transgender persons, especially in schools, are allowed to use.
There are at least 24 states that have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in specific women’s or girls’ sports. West Virginia is one of those states.
Morrisey stated at the press conference, “If we allow this decision to stand, then those laws are in danger, too.”
Originally, the Biden administration intended to issue a new Title IX regulation that addressed transgender athletes as well as sexual assault on college campuses. The department decided to divide them into several rules earlier this year, therefore the athletics rule is currently undefined.
According to Morrisey, the state will file its case within the next few days. In addition to calling West Virginia’s legislation “reasonable,” he said that “boys have a competitive advantage: they’re bigger, faster, and stronger.”
“There is nothing, nothing equal about having males compete against men and women,” he stated. “Gender identity is beside the point.”
