West Virginia has become the latest battleground in the controversial issue of transgender athletes.
Reuters reported Thursday that West Virginia will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to enforce a 2021 state law that bans transgender athletes from female sports teams.
The law has faced legal challenges from the beginning. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 22 to reinstate an injunction blocking the law.
A former West Virginia State soccer player, Lainey Armistead, and lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom petitioned the Supreme Court asking that the law be reinstated. West Virginia is one of 18 states that have passed a Save Women’s Sports Act.
“I love soccer. I played it my entire life. I grew up playing under my dad’s teams and then playing against my brothers. And I noticed from a really young age that there was a big biological difference even between my younger brother. Even though I was two years older, he was still stronger, fitter, and faster than me, “Armistead told Fox News Digital.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey asked the Supreme Court justices to lift the injunction and allow the state to enforce the law while its legality is determined.
Morrisey, a Republican, said his request is an attempt “to defend the integrity of women’s sports here in West Virginia.”
“This is a matter of basic common sense and basic fairness. We believe we are absolutely correct on the merits,” Morrisey said (via Reuters).
The West Virginia law had originally been challenged by a 12-year-old transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a middle-school student in Bridgeport. She was prohibited from trying out for the girls’ cross-country and track teams at her school. The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting on her behalf.
[Reuters]
