Giving Compass' Take:
- Naaz Modan reports on the upcoming Supreme Court case which will decide whether transgender student athletes can compete on teams aligned with their gender identity.
- How can donors support the rights of transgender student athletes to an equitable educational experience?
- Learn more about key issues in education and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on education in your area.
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A pair of cases could set nationwide policy on transgender student athlete participation in public schools and colleges in the next U.S. Supreme Court term, settling a policy pingpong that has persisted over the course of the last three presidential administrations.
The high court last week accepted petitions from West Virginia and Idaho which could, together, answer whether laws preventing transgender athletes from participating on teams aligning with their gender identities violate Title IX and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, and whether laws preventing transgender female athletes specifically violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
“Schools have long separated sports into boys’ and girls’ teams,” said West Virginia in its petition for the case West Virginia v. B.P.J. “More recently, though, the lines have begun to blur.”
Since 2020, 27 states have banned transgender youth from playing on school sports teams aligning with their gender identities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Idaho was the first state to enact such a ban.
The issue of transgender students competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams specifically has taken center stage under the second Trump administration, with President Donald Trump issuing an executive order banning transgender students from playing on women’s and girls’ sports teams in February. Since then, the administration has made it a priority to accost states and colleges that allow transgender students on teams aligning with their gender identity. The federal government has targeted such institutions with Title IX investigations and threatened to withhold federal funding if they don’t fall in line with the order.
It’s also an issue that many Title IX experts and civil rights advocates have expected to be taken up by the Supreme Court in recent years, especially after the case Bostock v. Clayton County left open the question of whether Title IX protects LGBTQ+ students.
Read the full article about transgender student athletes by Naaz Modan at K-12 Dive.