In August 2024, Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear West Virginia v. B.P.J. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had ruled that Title IX requires schools to let biological males who identify as transgender play on girls’ and women’s teams.
The brief argues:
- Congress never meant this. Congress passed Title IX by wide margins in 1972 to ban sex discrimination in schools that receive federal money. No one was voting to let males play in women’s sports. In fact, Congress later required the government to make athletic opportunities for women more equal.
- Most Americans agree. Nearly 70% of Americans say transgender athletes should compete on teams that match their birth sex, and that number is growing.
- The ruling harms female athletes. Under the Fourth Circuit’s decision, female athletes would routinely lose spots on teams and podiums to males with lasting physical advantages, would have to share locker rooms with males, and would face more frequent and more serious injuries.
As the dissenting judge in the Fourth Circuit wrote, the ruling “uses Title IX to deny the very benefits it was enacted to protect.” Without the Supreme Court’s help, female athletes in West Virginia and the other states in the Fourth Circuit will lose the benefits Title IX promises.
Read the full brief below:
