The ruling represents a victory for Republican states and for Trump, who passed laws prohibiting trans athletes from participating in female categories
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In a historic ruling, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court of the United States voted this Tuesday to allow states to prohibit biological males who identify as transgender women from participating in school female sports.
The high court ruled, in a 6 to 3 opinion, that the laws of West Virginia and Idaho prohibiting biological males from participating in female sports do not violate the Constitution. The cases were known as West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, brought by two transgender athletes who sued those states because they were not allowed to compete with women.
“To provide equal opportunities for female athletes, schools do not simply maintain, for example, a soccer team, a basketball team, an ice hockey team, and a lacrosse team that are equally open to female and male athletes. This approach would deny equal opportunities to female athletes because, as everyone agrees, women and men have inherent physical differences that are relevant to athletic performance,” Judge Brett Kavanaugh clearly stated in the ruling.
Historic ruling by the US Supreme Court: Banned transgender individuals from participating in female school sports
Judge Thomas's words
For his part, Judge Clarence Thomas criticized "gender dysphoria" in his writing, labeling it as a mental disorder. "Because 'gender dysphoria' is a mutable mental state that is subject to psychiatric treatment, it does not resemble the immutable characteristics on the basis of which our precedents have applied strict scrutiny: race, sex, or national origin," the magistrate argued.
"In contrast, gender dysphoria resembles other characteristics on the basis of which legislatures can classify with a merely rational basis,” Thomas wrote. "Secondly, as the Court recognizes, this case concerns 'biological males' and 'children who identify as girls.' Males and children with gender dysphoria are neither women nor girls, even if they believe they are."
"Using language to obscure reality —showing 'indifference to the truth'— is lying to the public and ceasing to treat our fellow citizens 'as equals',” the judge concluded.
Judge Clarence Thomas
Biden's judge and an unusual opinion
The left-leaning judges of the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, wrote the dissenting opinions. Jackson, nominated to the Court by Biden, argued in particular that when a male athlete changes his sex assigned at birth, his “ability to play in female sports also changes,” so preventing him from participating in female categories constitutes a form of “sex discrimination.”
The judicial decision allows 27 states that passed laws similar to those of Idaho and West Virginia to maintain their legislation, issued in response to high-profile cases of transgender individuals competing in female sports events. Trump signed an executive order last year prohibiting educational programs receiving federal funds from allowing transgender girls and women to play on teams that do not align with their biological sex.
Jackson was nominated to the Court by Biden in 2022
