West Virginia Asks Supreme Court To Rule On Transgender Athlete Ban

Nearly a year to the day since biological male University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas destroyed three biological females -- all three won medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games -- on the way to a national championship victory comes the news that West Virginia is now asking the Supreme Court to rule on transgender athlete participation.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is asking the court to allow the state to enforce a law that would ban transgender athletes from competing on biological female athletics teams. The state is currently battling an injunction blocking the transgender athletics ban. In February, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the injunction after a case was brought to the court by a 12-year-old transgender girl named Becky Pepper-Jackson, who wants to run middle school track.

West Virginia is asking the Supreme Court to rule on its transgender ban law. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In 2021, West Virginia passed a law that bans biological males in high school or post-secondary schools from competing on female athletic teams. The law states that the ban is "based solely on the individual's reproductive biology and genetics at birth."

Roger Brooks, who serves as senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, predicted during a 2022 interview with OutKick that the Lia Thomas craze would ultimately lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court.

“I think the answer to that is ‘yes,’” Brooks said when asked about the likelihood of Title IX and transgender policy battling it out in the highest court. “The law is not fast but within the next couple of years we’ll see a case about this issue in front of the Supreme Court.”

If West Virginia has its way, the court will be hearing the Becky case soon.

Attorney General Morrisey told Reuters that his state's Supreme Court request is aimed at defending "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," he added.

Meanwhile, Pepper-Jackson's team says the biological male has gone through a legal name change and "receives puberty-delaying treatment and estrogen hormone therapy, so has not experienced (and will not experience) endogenous puberty."

“I am not a boy,” Becky stated in a letter penned to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “I do not want to run with the boys when there is a girls’ team and I should not have to run with the boys when there is a girls’ team. Running with the girls means a lot to me because I am a girl, and I should be treated like a girl, just like all my friends who are girls.”

Since Lia Thomas won a national championship, the battle over transgender athletes in sports has seen some major victories for those who believe biological males should not be competing against biological females. In April 2022, a biological male was barred from racing against female British cyclists at a national championship, and then, in December, the top disc golf association in the United States effectively barred biological males from dominating the female circuit, which had happened during the 2022 season.