West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, State Del. Margitta Mazzocchi, Lainey Armistead, West Virginia University women’s soccer alumna, and Christiana Kiefer, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, on Tuesday gathered at the State Capitol to celebrate and commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Title IX’s guarantee of equality in women’s sports.
Title IX was signed into law on June 23, 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
“The impact of this law on women’s sports has been profound. Before the law, just one in 27 young women played sports—today that figure is two in five,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “This short and simple law demands that girls and women get their fair share of opportunities in Education and Title IX’s regulations made it clear that this could be accomplished in school athletic programs by having ‘separate teams for members of each sex’ where the teams are based on competitive skill and for contact sports.”
Among the speakers in Tuesday’s news conference were State Del. Margitta Mazzocchi and Lainey Armistead, West Virginia State University women’s soccer alumna.
Attorney General Morrisey also updated the media on the state’s fight to protect women’s sports. He argued that the case was about basic fairness for female athletes and needs to be upheld.
“This is about fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple,” Attorney General Morrisey said.
On April 28, 2021, West Virginia enacted H.B. 3293, which was designed to maintain the integrity of girls’ and women’s sports in both secondary and postsecondary public schools. This was in furtherance of Title IX’s efforts to promote athletic opportunities for female athletes.
On May 26, 2021, the ACLU and Cooley, LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Bridgeport middle schooler seeking to invalidate this law and open up girls sports to male athletes who identify as female athletes. The Attorney General, on behalf of the State, intervened and asserted the law protects female athletes’ safety and keeps female sports competitive for female athletes, consistent with Title IX and the Constitution.
The parties in the lawsuit have filed motions for summary judgment but the judge has not ruled on those motions. If the case is not resolved through those motions, a trial is scheduled for four days beginning on July 26.
“Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “We must honor and defend the success of Title IX to guarantee its benefits flow to the generations of girls and women to come.”
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