Protesters Duel Outside Supreme Court As Clash Over Trans Athletes, Women’s Sports Reaches D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases on Tuesday regarding transgender athletes and girls' and women's sports. While the arguments inside the courtroom would shape public policy surrounding males competing in female-only sports, the action outside the courtroom featured a fascinating divergence of the two main viewpoints. 

On one side, there were hundreds of people donning pro-woman apparel and proudly proclaiming that girls' and women's sports are for girls and women only. Their signs featured slogans like "Protect women's sports," "Female isn't a feeling," and "Women are not a hormone level." The speakers on that side spoke eloquently about fairness, privacy and equal opportunities for women. 

On the other side, rainbow and transgender flags flew (including one bearing a satanic circle) and many males dressed as women screamed and chanted. Their speakers declared that they should be as loud as possible to drown out the other side and the group blared music that made the Supreme Court steps feel like a dance club. 

OutKick spoke to rally-goers on both sides. 

Pro-Trans Protesters Focused on Distraction Tactics 

The two radical pro-transgender activists who spoke to OutKick deployed similar strategies. One of them, who was decked from head to toe in trans flag colors while wearing a Statue of Liberty crown, even carefully crafted an entire speech, which OutKick allowed the person to read, in full. It focused on other issues (such as abortion, food stamps and gay marriage) and made the case that males competing in women's sports isn't a big enough problem to care about. 

Following the speech, I pressed the person. I asked what any of those other issues had to do with the case at hand and the person seemed confused, as if the person had never faced an opposing viewpoint. The person also became angry with me for "interrupting" before dropping one of the more ridiculous comments I had heard all day. 

"Males should compete in men's sports, females should compete in women's sports. Why do you disagree with that?" I asked. 

"Why are sports even segregated in the first place?" the person replied. 

Who wants to tell them? 

A second activist went down a similar path, saying that the government should be too busy to care if males are competing in women's sports, using women's bathrooms and locker rooms and taking opportunities away from girls. 

When I asked directly if males have an advantage over females in sports, the person replied, "Let's talk about climate change?" 

Later, I asked if the person believed that women deserve their own sports, bathroom and private spaces. 

"Well, you're implying that trans women are not women and I disagree with that," the person responded. 

Pro-Woman Rally-goers Crossed the Political Spectrum 

Perhaps the most interesting thing I discovered while covering the event was that everyone on the pro-transgender side appeared to come from the same viewpoint. I spoke to several photographers and reporters who regularly cover D.C. politics, and they said they recognized many of the protesters on that side because they see them there for different issues, but always on the left-wing side. 

But on the pro-woman side, I spoke to a woman who declared that she was both liberal and a Democrat, but said this isn't a right-versus-left issue. 

"If you're a biological male, and you're trans-identified, go live your life. I do not care," the woman said. "But there are very clear biological and physical advantages that boys and men have against women when it comes to sports." 

Then, she continued by noting that she and many Democrats are not in favor of the radical trans ideology that seeks to have biological males invade women's spaces. 

"The majority of the American public is not OK with this… most of these liberals and Democrats agree [with keeping males out of women's sports]," she said. "I'm sorry, but girls and women have to be defined and there are very clear biological realities, and we need to draw the line." 

Outside the Supreme Court, dueling rallies clashed over transgender athletes and women’s sports as justices heard two related cases.

(OutKick)

I also spoke with a man named Rich, who was at the Supreme Court on behalf of Gays Against Groomers. Rich is a gay man who said that he, and many other gay people, are tired of seeing the radical transgender ideology threaten the progress made on gay rights as a whole. 

"It comes down to fairness and equality; that's exactly what we fought for as gay and lesbian individuals. Our rights as gays and lesbians are sex-based rights," he said. "Gender ideology, the trans-rights movement, is fundamentally homophobic and misogynistic, and we have to fight back against that." 

He then took aim at "Big Pharma." 

"[Trans activists] are using children as props to advance their agenda," he said. "Big Pharma is profiting off of mutilating and sterilizing children." 

Finally, I spoke with former Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who told me he was there to fight on behalf of the late Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee Lady Vols head coach who won eight national championships. 

"Pat was a champion for women's athletics and a champion for women's sports and I know she would not want boys playing against the girls," Pearl said. 

Whatever the Supreme Court decides, the split on those steps told the story: one side straining to drown out debate, the other insisting that fairness, safety, and reality still matter. The justices will write the opinion, but the country must live with the result.