In the 29-page opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that state efforts to keep separate teams for women and girls who were born as biological females is “consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.” The justice also wrote that states can determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex.
“The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon hailed the decision as a “tremendous victory” against a “radical transgender agenda.”
“Today’s ruling affirms the common sense right of states to prohibit men from competing in women’s sports, safeguard the integrity of female spaces, and ensure no woman faces discrimination on the basis of sex,” said in a statement regarding the decision. McMahon said the department looks forward to making sure that “every educational institution in America abides by the law of the land.”
Noreen Farrell, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, an organization that fights for “gender justice,” called the decision a “clear misreading” of Title IX – which bans discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs that receive federal funding – and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
“The decision betrays a core purpose of anti-discrimination laws: to expand educational opportunity for all students, not shut them out based on rigid gender stereotypes,” Farrell said in a statement. Noting that transgender athletes only represent 0.002% of college athletes, she continued: “Instead of fixating on transgender athletes, politicians should focus on the real issues facing women's sports: unequal funding, fewer participation opportunities, sexual abuse and harassment, and lack of resources and facilities.”
Over the past six years, 27 States have passed laws that keep female sports for biological females. The decision notes that when Title IX was adopted in 1972, the term “sex” was commonly understood to mean biological sex.
“Title IX means what it says: it prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity,” said Andreia Trifoi, staff attorney, the New Civil Liberties Alliance. “[I]f Congress wants to regulate a core area of state authority through conditions on its spending, it must do so clearly and unambiguously.”
