Transgender Students Deserve Day in Court on Athletic Advantage
All she wanted was her day in court. In West Virginia v. B.P.J, Becky Pepper-Jackson sought a trial to definitively resolve what has become a burning question in America’s culture wars: Do transgender girls — in particular, those who have never gone through male puberty — have a categorical advantage over cisgender girls in sports?
Legislatures — like that of West Virginia, which passed a ban on participation by transgender girls on girls’ teams — aren’t bound by the evidentiary standards that apply to judicial proceedings. Courts require experts to have certain qualifications, and studies to have sufficient rigor. Trial courts are where the dueling scientific claims on both sides could have been resolved.
In its June 30 decision, the US Supreme Court denied Pepper-Jackson that chance.