For decades, women’s and girls’ sports have enjoyed widespread and enduring support. They have been a remarkable American success story.  In addition to our public policy work at the Minnesota State Capitol (Preserve Girls Sports Act and Exemptions in the Minnesota Human Rights Act), True North Legal joined national advocacy efforts to protect women and girls’ athletics in two landmark cases being decided by U.S. Supreme Court this term, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.  For nearly a decade, high school athletic leagues and colleges across the country have turned Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause on their heads to the detriment of the individuals they aim to protect—women and girls. As a result, 27 states across the country have enacted laws to ensure that women and girls are not erased from sports and private spaces. Idaho was the first state to pass a law ensuring that only females can participate in female sports teams. West Virgina followed. Shortly after these laws were passed, the ACLU sued the state of Idaho claiming that Idaho’s law is unconstitutional because it does not allow males who identify as females to play on female only sports teams. Similarly, B.P.J., a male athlete identifying as a female, sued the state of West Virginia claiming that its law protecting girls’ sports, like Idaho’s, is unconstitutional. These cases made their way up through the federal courts, and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has chosen to weigh in on what has become one of the most significant cultural issues of our day.

True North Legal represents Representative Barbara Ehardt, the chief author of Idaho’s bill at issue in these cases, 206 female state legislators from across the country, and 38 family policy organizations.

Our brief asks the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold common sense and the rule of law, arguing that eligibility for women’s and girls’ athletic categories should be based on sex, not gender identity. This is consistent with the Equal Protection Clause as well as the original meaning and purpose of Title IX, which allows for sex-based distinctions in certain contexts such as sports and private spaces.

We are proud to stand in support of female athletes across the country, especially Madison Kenyon, Mary Kate Marshall, and Lainey Armistad, who intervened in this case, our allies and colleagues at Alliance Defending Freedom representing these athletes, and the states of Idaho and West Virginia.