US Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female school and college sports

The US Supreme Court has ruled that states can ban transgender women from competing in female school and college sports.

The court considered cases from students in two different states who had challenged bans on participation. The two states, Idaho and West Virginia, enacted laws that required public school and college sports teams to compete in accordance with their sex recorded at birth.

One of the two challenges says the ban violates equal rights protections in the US Constitution. The other says it contradicts civil rights laws.

More than two dozen states have enacted bans since Idaho did so in 2020.

Under those bans, a transgender woman – a biological male who identifies as a woman – is not permitted to compete in female sports at schools and colleges.

Lindsay Hecox, a long distance runner, lodged a legal challenge against the Idaho law shortly after it was enacted. She was later granted an injunction by both a district court and an appeals court.

State lawmaker Barbara Ehardt, who introduced the law, said at the time of its passing that it would ensure “boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it’s not fair”.

But in the appeals ruling, a panel of three judges found that the Idaho law violated constitutional rights. They said the state had failed to provide evidence that its ban protects “sex equality and opportunity for women athletes”.

President Donald Trump made the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports a regular focus of his 2024 election campaign. Last year, he signed an executive order that aimed to ban transgender women from competing on female sports teams.

Following that decision, the NCAA, the governing body for US college sports, banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.