A West Virginia law, which bans biological males from competing in female sports, has just been blocked by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Here’s more from the AP:
A federal appeals court has overturned a West Virginia transgender sports ban, finding that the law violates Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.
The ruling Tuesday from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocks a West Virginia law banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.
The court said the law cannot lawfully be applied to a 13-year-old girl who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade.
West Virginia is one of at least 24 states with a law on the books barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls sports competitions.
The bans are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
In addition to West Virginia, judges have temporarily put enforcement of the bans on hold in Arizona, Idaho and Utah.
A ban in Ohio is to take effect later this month.
The transgender pretender sports ban was signed into law by Governor Jim Justice in 2021 and quickly challenged by the ACLU and Lambda Legal. Last year the Supreme Court refused an emergency request to allow the law to go into while the lawsuit played out. If the Supreme Court refuses to take up this case, or one like it, then this ruling will stand and female athletes all over West Virginia will be disenfranchised.
So who were the judges in this case? “Judge Heytens wrote the opinion, which Judge Harris joined and Judge Agee joined as to Parts II and III. Judge Agee wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part..”
Heytens is a Joe Biden appointee. Harris is an Obama appointee. Agee is a George W. Bush appointee.
You can read the entire ruling here.