SCOTUS Must Protect Girls’ Sports in BPJ & Hecox Cases

Washington D.C.— The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) announced today that it has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the Hecox v. Little and West Virginia v. BPJ cases, urging the Court to uphold Idaho and West Virginia laws that preserve women’s sports for biological females.

AFPI is asking the Court to affirm that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause allow states to maintain sex-based eligibility in athletics. AFPI filed the brief on behalf of six current and former high school athletes, most of whom AFPI also represents in ongoing litigation against boys playing in girls’ sports in Oregon.

Included in the brief are firsthand accounts from these girls, who were forced to compete against biological males in sporting events. They detail how they lost roster spots, medals, records, and scholarship opportunities as a result. Some of them were denied not only the benefits of competitive high school sports, but also future opportunities in college athletics.

It has been well-documented that participation in high school and college sports opens up opportunities for women later in life. Academically, girls involved in sports achieve higher grades and score higher on standardized tests. After school, women who participated in sports tend to have access to better employment opportunities, with 94% of female C-suite executives having played sports and 52% of them having played at the college level.

“These young women’s stories reveal what’s really at stake,” said Brian Kelsey, senior counsel at AFPI. “When biological males are permitted in girls’ sports, girls are robbed of opportunities meant for them and the dignity of competing on a level playing field. Title IX was designed to stop that kind of discrimination, not enable it.”

The brief emphasizes four main points:

• Equal Protection: The 14^th Amendment was not passed in the 1860s to allow transgender boys to invade girls’ sports.
• Title IX: Congress and federal regulations have long authorized sex-separate sports to protect female athletes.
• Hostile Environment: Policies allowing males to compete in girls’ categories subject girls to discrimination and intimidation, violating Title IX.
• Protecting Opportunity: The invaluable benefits of sports for girls — academic, athletic, and career — depend on keeping competition sex-specific.

“Girls should never have to sit out, forfeit, or lose the futures they’ve worked for because adults refuse to acknowledge biological reality,” continued Kelsey. “The Supreme Court should respect the rights of states to restore fairness and protect women’s sports for generations to come.”

AFPI calls on the Court to preserve the framework that has allowed women’s sports to flourish since Title IX’s passage more than fifty years ago.