The U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws barring transgender student athletes, upholding laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning them from female sports teams.
The justices overturned decisions by lower courts siding with transgender students who challenged the bans in the two states as violating the U.S. Constitution and a federal anti-discrimination law. The court ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.
The Idaho and West Virginia laws designate sports teams at public schools, including universities, according to "biological sex" and bar "students of the male sex" from female teams. Twenty-five other states have similar laws on the books.
Idaho and West Virginia said the laws preserve fair and safe competition for women and girls.
More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well.
Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California, and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.