CHARLESTON – A federal judge has ruled a state law passed in 2021 keeps a transgender student-athlete who was born male from participating in girls’ sports.
In his 23-page opinion issued January 5, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin said he suspects the aim of House Bill 3293, which was known as the Save Women’s Sports Bill, was “to politicize participation in school athletics for transgender students.”
“Nevertheless, there is not a sufficient record of legislative animus,” Goodwin wrote. “I find that it is substantially related to an important government interest.”
Goodwin
Heather Jackson filed her complaint in federal court in May 2021 on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson against the West Virginia Board of Education, then-Superintendent Clayton Burch, the Harrison County Board of Education, county Superintendent Dora Stutler and the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission. Becky is 11 years old who identifies and lives as a girl.
In 2021, as she prepared to enter middle school, Becky expressed an interest in trying out for her school’s girls’ cross country and track teams. The school informed her mother the decision to let Becky participate depended on the outcome of HB 3293, which then was pending in the state Legislature. When the law passed, the school told Becky she could not try out for the girls’ team.
Goodwin says the law “was clearly carefully crafted with litigation such as this in mind.”
Becky initially requested a preliminary injunction to allow her to compete on the girls’ track and cross country teams while the case was pending, and Goodwin granted that. All defendants moved to dismiss, but he denied those actions. And college athlete Lainey Armistead moved to intervene as a defendant, which Goodwin allowed. All parties then moved for summary judgment.
In his analysis, Goodwin breaks down issues with all parties.
He addresses the plaintiff’s allegation that HB 3293 was “part of a concerted, nationwide effort to target transgender youth for unequal treatment.” He also notes how bill sponsor Delegate Jordan Bridges posted about the bill on social media and “liked” comments advocating for physical violence against transgender girls, comparing transgender girls to pigs and calling transgender girls by a pejorative term.
But, Goodwin says the plaintiffs do not argue the law is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s animus doctrine. He also says the record lacks sufficient legislative history to make such a finding.
“At the time it passed the law, West Virginia had no known instance of any transgender person playing school sports,” Goodwin wrote. “While the Legislature did take note of transgender students playing sports in other states, it is obvious to me that the statute is at best a solution to a potential, but not yet realized ‘problem.’”
Goodwin also discusses “what this case is not,” noting the politically charged nature of transgender acceptance in culture today.
“This case is not one where the court needs to accept or approve (Becky’s) existence as a transgender girl,” he wrote. “(Becky), like all transgender people, deserves respect and the ability to live free from judgment and hatred for simply being who she is.
“But for the state Legislature, creating a ‘solution’ in search of a problem, the courts would have no reason to consider eligibility rules for youth athletics. Nevertheless, I must do so now.”
Goodwin says it also isn’t a case where Becky challenges the “entire structure of school sports.”
“Ultimately, (Becky’s) issue here is not with the state’s offering of girls’ sports and boys’ sports,” Goodwin wrote. “It is with the state’s definitions of ‘girl’ and ‘boy.’ The state has determined that for the purposes of school sports, the definition of ‘girl’ should be ‘biologically female,’ based on physical difference between the sexes. … (Becky) seeks a legal declaration that a transgender girl is ‘female.’”
Goodwin says he won’t get into the business of defining what it means to be a girl or woman.
“The courts have no business creating such definitions, and I would be hard-pressed to find many other contexts where one’s sex and gender are relevant legislative considerations,” he wrote. “But I am forced to consider whether the state’s chosen definition passes constitutional muster in this one discrete context.”
Goodwin addresses the plaintiff’s claim that the bill violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which he denies.
“A transgender girl is biologically male and, barring medical intervention, would undergo male puberty like other biological males,” he wrote. “And biological males generally outperform females athletically. The state is permitted to legislate sports rules on this basis because sex, and the physical characteristics that flow from it, are substantially related to athletic performance and fairness in sports.
“Could the state be more inclusive and adopt a different policy, as (Becky) suggests, which would allow transgender individuals to play on the team with which they, as an individual, are most similarly situated at a given time? Of course. But it is not for the court to impose such a requirement here.”
Goodwin also addresses the plaintiff’s claim that the bill violates Title IX, which he also denies.
“Title IX authorizes sex separate sports in the same manner as HB 3293, so long as overall athletic opportunities for each sex are equal,” Goodwin wrote. "Despite her repeated argument to the contrary, transgender girls are not excluded from school sports entirely. They are permitted to try out for boys' teams, regardless of how they express their gender."
He also denies a WVSSAC motion arguing that it isn’t a state actor and, thus, not subject to scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX.
“Though county boards of education have the statutory authority to supervise and control interscholastic athletic events, they have delegated that authority to the WVSSAC,” Goodwin wrote. “Every public secondary school in West Virginia is a member of the WVSSAC, and the school principals sit on the WVSSAC’s Board of Control to propose and vote on sports rules and regulations. Any rule the WVSSAC passes is then subject to approval by the state Board of Education, and the state Board of Education requires that any coach who is not also a teacher be trained by the WVSSAC and certified by the state Board of Education. …
“It appears that the WVSSAC cannot exist without the state, and the state cannot manage statewide secondary school activities without the WVSSAC. The WVSSAC is pervasively entwined with the state.”
A spokesman for the West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which was co-counsel on the case for the plaintiffs, said it is reviewing the ruling with co-counsel to determine the next steps.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey applauded Goodwin's ruling. Morrisey's office intervened on behalf of the state in support of the HB 3293.
“This is not only about simple biology, but fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple,” Morrisey said. “Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious and we must safeguard that future. Protecting these opportunities is important, because when biological males compete in a women’s event women and girls lose their opportunity to shine.
“This short and simple law demands that girls and women get their fair share of opportunities in education, and Title IX’s regulations make 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."
An attorney representing Armistead, a former West Virginia State University soccer player who intervened in the lawsuit, called Goodwin's ruling "a win for reality."
"The truth matters, and it is crucial that our laws and policies recognize that the physical differences between men and women matter, especially in a context like sports,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Christiana Kiefer said. “Female athletes deserve to compete on a level playing field. Allowing males to compete in girls’ sports destroys fair competition, safety on the field, and women’s athletic opportunities. Female athletes across the country are losing medals, podium spots, public recognition, and opportunities to compete because of males competing in women’s sports.
"The court was right to affirm that West Virginia’s law is not only constitutional, but consistent with Title IX.”
Armistead said the case wasn't just about fair play.
"It’s about protecting fairness and safety for female athletes across West Virginia," she said. "It’s about ensuring that future generations of female athletes are not discriminated against but have access to the same equal athletic opportunities that shaped my life.
"Being an athlete in college has made me even more passionate about the sport that I play. I want fairness, equality, and safety in sports. And I want to ensure those standards are protected for other girls, too.”
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:21-cv-00316