B.P.J. v. West Virginia Board of Education
Can those who are transgender participate in school sports?
Becky is a middle school student in West Virginia who has been a cheerleader and wishes to try out for the cross-country team. However, a new law in the state would prevent her from doing so because she is transgender. In response, Becky and her parents have filed a lawsuit with representation from the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP. In 2021, over 75 anti-trans laws were introduced nationwide, including West Virginia's HB 3293, which prohibits transgender girls from participating in school sports. This law was signed by Governor Jim Justice, despite his inability to identify any transgender athletes in the state. The ban is opposed by women athletes, women’s sports organizations, and medical experts. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, argues that this prohibition on transgender girls participating in sports is unconstitutional.
Update
On April 16, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that West Virginia’s law excluding Becky from participating on girls’ teams violated Title IX and that the district court should not have dismissed her equal protection claim. However, we’ve seen how often the Supreme Court appeals decisions, and this would be one they would look at again.
Also, this case was taken by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group who has taken other controversial supreme court cases that rule against LGBTQ+ rights.
Project 2025 Links
Bureaucrats at the Department of Justice force school districts to undermine girls’ sports and parents’ rights to satisfy transgender extremists (pg. 8)
The new Administration must quickly move to rescind these changes [to the CRDC, Civil Rights Data Collection], which add a new “nonbinary” sex category to OCR’S data collection and issue a new CRDC that will collect data directly relevant to OCR’s statutory enforcement authority. (pg. 332)
