JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Among several major decisions the Supreme Court released today was one regarding transgender athletes. The court ruled that states may ban trans women and girls from participating in women and girls sports at publicly funded schools. The decision was 6 to 3 on ideological lines. The majority opinion noted that 27 states have enacted such bans in the last six years. Let's hear more about this ruling as well as its consequences from Brooke Migdon of The 19th, who covers LGBTQ+ issues. Hi, Brooke.
BROOKE MIGDON: Hi. Thanks for having me.
SUMMERS: Thanks for being here. So, Brooke, this opinion was prompted by two cases from trans athletes who wanted to compete for their schools - one from West Virginia, another from Idaho. What are the legal statutes they were challenging?
MIGDON: Yeah. The two athletes, Becky Pepper-Jackson and Lindsay Hecox, were challenging their state's bans in West Virginia and Idaho. They were saying that the bans violated Title IX, which is a landmark federal statute prohibiting sex-based discrimination in school sports. And they also argued that those bans violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
SUMMERS: It's interesting that all of these justices agreed that the state bans did not violate Title IX, but the disagreement was really over the equal protection clause. Can you say more about that?
MIGDON: So the majority opinion was written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, decided that the state bans did not violate the equal protection clause. The three liberal justices disagreed with that. They basically said that, you know, they disagreed with the majority's view that the bans did not violate the equal protection clause because transgender student athletes make up a relatively small population. You know, they basically wrote in their dissents, you know, it shouldn't matter how small a population is. It still doesn't warrant discrimination.
SUMMERS: So where does all of this leave schools? I mean, if trans athlete bans are upheld as constitutional, is it just what - up to whatever the state that you live in says is legal?
MIGDON: Yeah, exactly. So similar bans have been passed in 25 states. So 27 states total prohibit transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity. But, you know, there's still a lot of states who don't have those policies. There are states who have, on, you know, the other hand, inclusive school sports policies that allow transgender athletes to compete on teams that best align with their gender identity. So nothing happens to those state laws as of now. The real question is what could happen to those states in the future. But this ruling does nothing to compel those states to ban transgender athletes.
SUMMERS: We mentioned that you cover LGBTQ+ politics. What have you heard from advocates who are reacting to and taking in what this ruling might mean?
MIGDON: Both girls' legal teams have described this ruling as heartbreaking and a disappointment. But their message is that this ruling is very narrow. It does apply to West Virginia and Idaho specifically. You know, for the transgender young people in those states, that doesn't make this any easier.
You know, this definitely isn't an outright win for, you know, let's say, President Trump's administration, which has pretty aggressively sought to bar transgender student athletes from competing in women and girls school sports. It was a major campaign issue for the president. But this ruling doesn't ban transgender athletes nationwide. It kicks the issue back to the states, and, you know, the states will have to decide from there. Advocates are, you know, disappointed in the ruling, obviously, but it was not unexpected. And right now, they're still reviewing different legal avenues to pursue other challenges.
SUMMERS: And I'll just note here that President Trump has responded to this news on social media, on Truth Social, calling this a big win, saying that that takes - and I'm quoting the president here - "that ridiculous situation off of the table." Brooke, this is not the only time recently that the Supreme Court has ruled on the rights of transgender people. Can you remind us of some of the other rulings that the court has decided and what's to come?
MIGDON: So the Supreme Court fairly recently allowed President Trump's administration to enforce its ban on transgender troops serving in the military. It also ruled last summer on a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors. I think the Tennessee decision could be an indicator - a good indicator of what we may see regarding this decision moving forward. I mean, advocates are still challenging gender-affirming healthcare bans, and state courts are still reviewing those bans, and they're still issuing decisions on them.
A state court in Kansas recently blocked the state's gender-affirming healthcare ban. So, you know, even though the Supreme Court ruled in the Tennessee case, that ruling, like the one we saw this morning, was very narrow and isn't necessarily applicable to every state that is seeking to ban gender-affirming care or transgender athletes.
SUMMERS: That was Brooke Migdon, LGBTQ+ reporter from The 19th. Thanks so much.
MIGDON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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