Federal appeals court rejects West Virginia law protecting women’s sports

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the law violated Title IX, the landmark federal women’s rights law from 1972. The state’s 2021 law aimed to protect girls’ and women’s sports from participation by male athletes. The ACLU challenged the law on behalf of a 12-year-old boy who self-identified as a transgender girl, saying the student would be kicked off a girls’ track-and-field team if the law was enforced. In the ruling, Judge Toby Heytens wrote that the student was too far along to be reasonably expected to reverse the transition process.

Did anyone disagree with this ruling? Judge G. Steven Agee dissented from the court’s opinion in large part. He wrote that the law does not, on its face, violate the rights of individuals who describe themselves as transgender. The law upholds the government’s interest in protecting the integrity and fairness of women’s sports, he wrote.

What will happen next? The appeals court remanded the case to a district court for a ruling on its decision and to deal with any remedial issues. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey plans to fight the decision, according to a Tuesday statement from his office.

Dig deeper: Read Juliana Chan Erickson’s report in Relations about mail-order puberty blockers for children.