A judge says West Virginia can keep the ban on trans athletes

The Advancement of a Transsexual Law in the Statehouse of West Virginia: The Case of an 11-Year-old Female Competing in High School Cross-Country

Since the beginning of this year, 19 states have banned players from playing for girls or women’s sports teams. There are new and proposed laws in statehouses this year to further curb the rights of transexuals.

The American Civil Liberties Union and its West Virginia chapter filed the lawsuit in 2021 on behalf of an 11-year-old transgender girl who hoped to compete in middle school cross-country in Harrison County. The state and county boards of education were named in the lawsuit.

“This is not only about simple biology, but fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple,” the attorney general said. “Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious and we must safeguard that future.”

The legislature’s definition of a girl as being based on biological sex is relevant to the government’s desire to provide equal athletic opportunities for females.

He stated that thePlaintiff, like all trans people, deserves respect and the ability to live free from judgment and hatred. He found no evidence that the legislation was passed with harmful intent.

At the time the measure was passed there were not many reports about girls participating in sports. He said that the statute is a solution to a potential, but not yet realized the problem.

The Transgender Dimension of High School Football: A Challenge for the World Athletics Council and the High-Energy Court of Arbitration for Sport

Had the legislature not done so, there would have been no reason for the court to weigh in on the issue, he continued. “Nevertheless,” the judge concluded, “I must do so now.”

A 2017 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law used state-level, population-based surveys to estimate that West Virginia had the highest percentage (1.04%) of residents ages 13 to 17 among all states who identified as transgender. That equated to about 1,150 teens.

Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) was set to play Long Trail School on February 21, but MVCS forfeited the game due to a transgender player on Long Trail’s roster, according to the head of school at MVCS, Vicky Fogg.

“We withdrew from the tournament because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” Fogg said in a statement.

The factors that go into determining the sex listed on a birth certificate may include anatomy, genetics and hormones, and there is broad natural variation in each of these categories.

A national survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning youth found more than half had considered suicide, while a study by the Williams Institute found more than one in five adolescents tried to take their own lives.

He explained that World Athletics – the global governing body for track and field – would set up a working group to evaluate the issue of transgender inclusion over the next 12 months.

But the mainstream science does not support that conclusion. A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found “no direct or consistent research” on trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say the bans add to the discrimination trans people face.

In order to compete in World athletics athletes with differences in sex development had to use birth control pills, hormones, or surgery. Semenya refused, saying such treatments had left her feeling like she would have a heart attack, and took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ultimately ruled against her in 2019. She is currently appealing the ruling in the European Court of Human Rights.

The World Athletics Council conducted their own research over the past decade, and found that there can be an impact on performance. The council’s evidence is flawed according to several international groups.

Even without strong evidence of an advantage, the council has scrutinized the performance of athletes such as South African runner Caster Semenya, the world’s fastest woman in the 800 meters. The daughter of a man and a woman is known to have a naturally high testosterone level.