Five West Virginia middle schoolers who protested a transgender athlete’s participation in a track and field competition have been barred from future matches — prompting the state’s attorney general to ask the US Supreme Court to weigh in on transgender student-athlete bans for a second time.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a lawsuit against the Harrison County Board of Education on the dissenting students’ behalf after they were blocked out of upcoming meets following their protests at the April 18 shot put competition, West Virginia Watch reported.
Five girls from Lincoln Middle School stepped up to the circle for their turn before refusing to throw the ball in the event, which was won by Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 13-year-old girl who takes puberty-blocking medication and estrogen hormone therapy.
While West Virginia law bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a recent federal appeals court ruled the law couldn’t lawfully be applied to the eighth-grader.
Judge Toby Heytens wrote that offering her a “choice” between not participating in sports and participating only on boys teams “is no real choice at all.”
Despite the ruling, Morrisey has rallied against both the ruling and the treatment of the student-athletes who protested competing against Pepper-Jackson.
“Their actions at the earlier track meet were not disruptive or aggrandizing. They were the quiet demonstration of the student-athletes’ evident unhappiness with the competitive consequences of a federal appellate court’s decision,” Morrisey, a Republican currently primarying for governor, wrote in the amicus brief filed April 26.
Joined by one of Pepper-Jackson’s classmates on Wednesday, Morrisey said he plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case involving the state’s restrictions on transgender student-athletes for a second time.
Former collegiate swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines, who has been an outspoken critic of trans athletes participating in girls’ sporting events, has weighed in on the issue, writing “These girls stood up for what they believed and their coach barred them from competing. Insane” in a post on X on Monday.
Morrisey quote-tweeted Gaines’ message, noting he plans to do “everything in my power to defend these brave young girls.”
“This is just wrong. We must stand for what’s right and oppose these radical trans policies. Thanks to @Riley_Gaines_ for her leadership on this critical issue.”