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Appeals court keeps Idaho’s transgender student athlete law on pause [1]

['Logan Finney', 'More From Author', '- August']

Date: 2023-08-17

This story was originally published by Idaho Reports on Aug. 17, 2023.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will continue to block Idaho’s “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” from taking effect while litigation over the law’s merits continues. The state law bans transgender women and girls from competing on female student athletic teams.

The ACLU and other organizations filed the lawsuit on behalf of Boise State University student Lindsay Hecox in 2020 after Idaho became the first state to legislate transgender participation in school sports. At least 20 states have since passed similar laws, several of which are also temporarily blocked by court injunctions.

“The Act bars all transgender women and girls from participating in, or trying out for, public school female sports teams at every age, from primary school through college, and at every level of competition, from intramural to elite teams,” a summary of the Ninth Circuit opinion reads. “It also provides a sex dispute verification process whereby any individual can ‘dispute’ the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho and require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams. Male student athletes in Idaho are not subject to a similar dispute process.”

Ruling blocks law temporarily while lawsuit makes its way through federal court system

The ruling does not decide whether the law will ultimately stand. It only continues to prevent it from taking effect while the legal challenge continues to move through the federal court system.

“Today, we decide only the question of whether the federal district court for the District of Idaho abused its discretion in August 2020 when it preliminarily enjoined the Act,” the opinion said. “Because the Act subjects only women and girls who wish to participate in public school athletic competitions to an intrusive sex verification process and categorically bans transgender girls and women at all levels from competing … and because the State of Idaho failed to adduce any evidence demonstrating that the Act is substantially related to its asserted interests in sex equality and opportunity for women athletes, we affirm the district court’s grant of preliminary injunctive relief.”

Plaintiffs challenge the law on the grounds that it potentially subjects all female athletes to possible sex screenings and categorically excludes all transgender female athletes from participation. Two cisgender female athletes represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom joined the lawsuit in support of the legislation.

“Idaho’s [law and other states] not only target and discriminate against transgender women and girls but also discriminate against all women and girls. Idaho’s ban and all others like it are designed to alienate and stigmatize transgender people and we’ll never stop fighting until all transgender youth are given the equal playing field they deserve,” said ACLU Deputy Director for Transgender Justice Chase Strangio in a news release about the ruling.

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