SCOTUS Urged to Protect 12-Year-Old Trans Girl the Right to Play with Peers

Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of West Virginia urged the United States Supreme Court to reject an effort by West Virginia’s Attorney General to block a 12-year-old transgender girl from continuing to participate in school sports with her peers.

In a March 9 filing, Attorney General Patrick Morrissey asked the Supreme Court for an emergency motion allowing the state to enforce a ban on transgender student-athletes and kick 12-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson off her middle school’s track and field team.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit blocked the state’s effort to kick Becky off the team as the legal advocates appealed a lower court ruling upholding the 2021 ban in a lawsuit brought on Becky’s behalf. 

“Becky is a 12-year-old girl who has tried out and been accepted as a member of the girls track team, with no issue from her teammates. She has been receiving puberty-delaying medication and gender-affirming hormones. It is unconscionable that the West Virginia Attorney General wants to prevent Becky from participating in sports with her peers,” Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU-WV said in a joint statement.

The statement continued, “Nearly 200 collegiate and professional women athletes – including Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, and Candace Parker – joined in amicus briefs supporting trans youth participation in sports.”

They added, “West Virginia refuses to address the facts of Becky’s case and instead talks about elite athletic competitions that have nothing to do with the facts here. The AG and his allies have cherry-picked unique incidents and ignored the overwhelming evidence that allowing transgender youth to participate in team sports has benefits for all. We will vigorously defend Becky’s right to participate in team sports, and would urge state legislators countrywide to just let the kids play.”

West Virginia is one of 19 states that have banned transgender student-athletes in just the last three years as part of an escalating wave of state-level restrictions on the rights of transgender people. Similar federal lawsuits are pending in Idaho and Tennessee.

Sarah Toce

Screenwriter & Journalist | Sarah Brusig (Toce) is an appointed member of the King County Women's Advisory Board and an elected precinct committee officer (PCO) in Burien, WA. As a healthcare worker, Sarah is represented by SEIU 1199NW. In 2010, Sarah created the online news source The Seattle Lesbian, LLC, which still receives upward of 100,000 readers per month. A recipient of McCormick's New Media Women Entrepreneur Award in 2012, Sarah was invited to the White House by President Barack Obama in 2015. That same year, GO Mag recognized Sarah as one of their Red-Hot Entrepreneurs in media.​ In 2016, the National Diversity Council honored Sarah with their LGBT Leadership Award. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) recognized Sarah's advocacy work with the Community Builder Award in 2017, the same year Curve Magazine named Sarah one of their Top Women in Media & Publishing. Sarah served a two-year term as president of the Society of Professional Journalists - Western Washington Chapter beginning in 2018 and was elected Communications Vice Chair of the King County Democrats in 2021.

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