5 Middle School Girls Who Wouldn't Compete Against A Trans Athlete Are Now Banned From Future Competitions
Five girls in West Virginia who forfeited their shot-put competition in protest against competing against a trans athlete have now been barred from competing in that event at future competitions.
On April 18th, five girls from Lincoln Middle School refused to compete against a 13-year-old trans student who goes by Becky Pepper-Jackson, who subsequently "won" the competition. Soon after, the coach of the five female athletes barred them from future events with the approval of their school board as a punishment for their protest.
The same trans student previously made headlines for demanding the right to compete against the girls and sued West Virginia over its barring trans athletes from competing on girls' and women’s sports teams in public schools and colleges and won. However, the federal appeals court ruling only blocked the state’s transgender sports ban in Pepper-Jackson's case; it did not overturn the state law in its entirety.
The judge in the case, Toby Heytens claimed that offering Pepper-Jackson a “choice” between not participating in sports and participating only on boys’ teams “is no real choice at all." Ironically, the judge apparently had no issue taking away female athletes' choice to play their sports fairly and safely to grant special privileges to Pepper-Jackson.
In response to being barred from future competitions, four of the five students, through their parents, filed suit against the Harrison County Board of Education, and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a brief supporting them.
“Their actions at the earlier track meet were not disruptive or aggrandizing. They were the quiet demonstration of the student-athletes’ evident unhappiness with the competitive consequences of a federal appellate court’s decision,” Morrisey wrote. He also announced that he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if the state can enforce its transgender athlete ban in Pepper-Jackson’s case.
The public response to the coach and school board banning the female athletes has been swift and critical. Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines weighed in on the issue on X, writing, “These girls stood up for what they believed and their coach barred them from competing. Insane."
Attorney General Morrisey retweeted Gaines’ message and added that he plans to do “everything in my power to defend these brave young girls.”
Similar injustices will likely increase against women until the Biden administration's recent changes to Title IX are challenged.
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