(ZENIT News / Washington, 20.08.2024).- Several states, women’s sports advocacy groups, businesses and other organizations have filed amicus curiae briefs asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear two cases involving state laws protecting women’s sports. The states of West Virginia and Idaho, along with lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of female athletes, filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court last month.

In BPJ v. West Virginia State Board of EducationWest Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and lawyers for the ADF are asking the Supreme Court to hear their case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled to undermine West Virginia’s ability to protect fairness in women’s sports. The ADF is representing former college soccer player Lainey Armistead. In Hecox v LittleIdaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and attorneys for the ADF are asking the Supreme Court to uphold their state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit stopped the law from taking effect. The ADF is representing former college track and field athletes Madison Kenyon and Mary Kate Marshall.

“In April, the Fourth Circuit issued a 2-1 ruling overturning an earlier decision upholding West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act. I promised then that I would continue to fight for the safety, welfare and fairness of women’s sports, and I am keeping that promise. I am grateful for the support of Alliance Defending Freedom and my many colleagues in other states,” Morrisey said.

“While we fight for fair and equal athletic competition, activists are pursuing a radical agenda that will ultimately exclude women and girls from sport. Many sports organizations around the world have recognized the obvious truth that men and women are biologically different and that allowing men in women’s sports would create a dangerous, unfair environment for women to showcase their incredible talent in sport. These voices from diverse backgrounds have joined us in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold our law and ensure that women and girls get the opportunities they deserve,” Labrador said.

“Women and girls have a right to compete on equal terms, but activists continue their efforts to erase the differences between men and women by forcing women’s sports leagues to allow men to compete,” said John Bursch, ADF’s senior counsel and vice president of Appellate Advocacy. “This defies biological reality and common sense. We should seek to protect women’s sports and equal opportunity, and West Virginia and Idaho’s women’s sports laws do just that. Lainey, Madison, Mary Kate, and millions of girls across the country have a right to compete on equal terms with other women. The wide range of backgrounds of these groups petitioning the court proves that this is not political or partisan – it is basic fairness.”

In BPPJ., a male middle school student who competed for a girls’ track team in West Virginia, bested nearly 300 girls in cross country and track and field competitions over three years. Armistead intervened in the case to defend the state’s law, which was enacted to ensure equal athletic opportunity for women.

“Neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause compels West Virginia to classify biological males as girls,” the multi-state brief states in BPPJ “But that is exactly what the Fourth Circuit majority decided. This decision is profoundly wrong and has far-reaching consequences for states across the country.”

In HecoxKenyon and Marshall, who ran track and cross country at Idaho State University, are working with the state to defend Idaho’s women’s sports law. The two women are longtime athletes who are well-versed in the differences in strength, speed and endurance between similarly gifted and trained male and female athletes. They were both forced to compete against a male athlete – and were pushed down the rankings as a result.

A letter from 102 female athletes, coaches, sports officials and parents of female athletes also cites statements from women who have lost opportunities to male athletes. “I swam in the 500m freestyle in the preliminary round and finished 17th, meaning I did not make it to the final and was the first reserve swimmer,” said the statement from Reka Gyorgy, a two-time ACC champion from Virginia Tech and a 2016 Hungarian Olympian. “I watched from the side of the pool as Lia Thomas (a biological male) won a national women’s title in a final that I deserved because the rules in place did not support biological women. I was crying and feeling frustrated, angry and sad. It hurt me, my team and the other women in the pool.”

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