{"id":217655,"date":"2025-11-10T18:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?post_type=press_release&p=217655"},"modified":"2025-11-10T18:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:38:15","slug":"transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"press_release","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court","title":{"rendered":"Transgender West Virginia Teen Challenges Athletic Ban at Supreme Court"},"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-217655","press_release","type-press_release","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subheading":"","date_and_time":"2025-11-10 17:36:46","featured_image":"","show_on_press_releases_landing_page":true,"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"WASHINGTON \u2013 Attorneys representing a 15-year-old West Virginia transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, and her mother Heather Jackson today filed their response brief<\/a> to the Supreme Court of the United States in their challenge to a 2021 West Virginia law barring Pepper-Jackson from participating on girl\u2019s athletic teams. Becky and her mother are represented in West Virginia v. B.P.J <\/em>by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP.\r\n\r\n\u201cI play for my school for the same reason other kids on my track team do\u2013to make friends, have fun, and challenge myself through practice and teamwork,\u201d said Becky Pepper-Jackson, 15, of West Virginia<\/strong>. \u201cAnd all I\u2019ve ever wanted was the same opportunities as my peers. Instead, I\u2019ve had my rights and my life debated by politicians who\u2019ve never even met me but want to stop me from playing sports with my friends. I know this case isn\u2019t just about me, or even just about sports. It\u2019s just one part of a plan to push transgender people like me out of public life entirely. I\u2019m proud to stand up alongside my mom for what I believe and who I am and I want other transgender kids to know they aren\u2019t alone.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019ve always raised my children to stay true to themselves, no matter what anyone else tells them,\u201d says Heather Jackson, mother of Becky Pepper-Jackson. <\/strong>\u201c\"I'm so proud of Becky and the young woman she's becoming, one who is hardworking, kind, and a team player. My daughter and every transgender kid like her deserves the freedom to be themselves and a future where no one is discriminated against just because of who they are.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThis case is fundamentally about the ability of transgender youth like Becky to participate in our schools and communities,\u201d said Joshua Block, Senior Counsel for the ACLU\u2019s LGBTQ & HIV Project.<\/strong> \u201cSchool athletics are fundamentally educational programs, but West Virginia\u2019s law completely excluded Becky from her school\u2019s entire athletic program even when there is no connection to alleged concerns about fairness or safety. As the lower court recognized, forcing Becky to either give up sports or play on the boy\u2019s team\u2013in contradiction of who she is at school, at home, and across her life\u2013is really no choice at all. We look forward to defending her rights, and the rights of every young person, to be included as a member of their school community, at the Supreme Court.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cBecky simply wants to be with her teammates on the track and field team, to experience the camaraderie and many documented benefits of participating in team sports,\u201d said Lambda Legal <\/strong>Counsel, Nonbinary & Trans Rights Project Director, Sasha Buchert<\/strong>. \u201cIt has been amply proven that participating in team sports equips youth with a myriad of skills \u2013 in leadership, teamwork, confidence, and health. On the other hand, denying a student the ability to participate is not only discriminatory, but harmful to a student\u2019s self-esteem, sending a message that they are not good enough and deserve to be excluded. In the end, can we not just let the kids play?\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Supreme Court has also agreed to hear Little v.<\/em><\/a> Hecox<\/em><\/a>, a challenge brought by a transgender student against Idaho\u2019s 2020 ban on transgender athletes and requirements for sex testing. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Idaho, Legal Voice, and Cooley LLP represent the plaintiffs in this case.\r\n\r\nThe two cases charge the bans with violating the rights of transgender and cisgender female students under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, West Virginia v. B.P.J.<\/em> argues that the bans violate Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs. Federal courts have blocked enforcement of these bans in both lawsuits.\r\n\r\nSince 2020, 27 states have banned transgender youth from playing school sports. Many of these bans allow for invasive forms<\/a> of sex testing<\/a> that put all female student-athletes at risk and embolden intrusive challenges to student athletes' sex.\r\n\r\nIn Florida, a 15-year-old junior varsity volleyball player was the subject of a police investigation<\/a> after an anonymous accusation, prompting local officials to draft a 500-page report investigating her medical history, body weight, and anatomy. In Utah, a teenage basketball player was accused of being transgender by a member of the state board of education, leading to threats of violence against her and her family<\/a>, and a teenager in Maine<\/a> faced a similar attack from a state senator. In May, President Donald Trump similarly targeted a 16-year-old transgender girl<\/a> for participating in a high school track meet. Under an Arizona ban, a cisgender male student was prohibited from participating on the boy\u2019s team<\/a> at his high school because of a clerical error that listed him as female on his original birth certificate.\r\n\r\nMany women athletes<\/a> have spoken out against bullying and discrimination against transgender student-athletes, including Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, Dawn Staley, Sue Bird, and Brianna Turner, as well as leading organizations fighting for gender equality in athletics including the Women\u2019s Sports Foundation, the Women\u2019s National Basketball Player\u2019s Association, and the National Women\u2019s Law Center.\r\n\r\nToday's brief in <\/a>West Virginia v. B.P.J.<\/em><\/a> can be found here. <\/a>\r\n\r\nToday's brief in <\/a>Little v. Hecox<\/em><\/a> can be found here.<\/a>\r\n\r\nThese cases are part of the ACLU\u2019s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket<\/a>."}}],"drupal_node_id":"","email":"media@aclu.org","phone":"(212) 549-2666","address":{"address_1":"125 Broad Street","address_2":"18th Floor","city":"New York","state":"NY","zip_code":10004,"country":"United States"},"pgp_public_key":"","issues":[46567,46569,46773,46781,46771,46811,46813],"press_releases_related_to_cases":[63013],"spokesperson":[48465],"related_affiliates":[377,328],"related_content_documents":"","related_content_publications":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transgender West Virginia Teen Challenges Athletic Ban at Supreme Court | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court\",\"name\":\"Transgender West Virginia Teen Challenges Athletic Ban at Supreme Court | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-10T23:38:15+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/transgender-west-virginia-teen-challenges-athletic-ban-at-supreme-court\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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