Late last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing a law banning transgenders from playing on girls’ school sports teams.
The judge in Tucson granted a preliminary injunction to allow the processing of a lawsuit (pdf) filed on behalf of two prepubescent transgenders against the state’s “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which was passed by the Legislature last year.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a defendant in the case, said the decision will be appealed.
“The United States Supreme Court will ultimately decide this, and they will rule in our favor,” Mr. Horne said in a statement.
Arizona is one of several states that have passed laws to preserve the rule that student access to school sports teams or other facilities are based on their sex at birth rather than their chosen gender identity.
Two prepubescent transgenders are represented in the suit, including a 15-year-old who wants to play on the school girls’ volleyball team and another who is 11-years-old and wants to compete in the girls’ competitions for soccer, basketball, and cross-country.
According to the lawsuit, playing on the school boys’ teams are not an acceptable option for either of the transgender-identifying youth.
“It would be painful and humiliating for (the plaintiff) to be forced to play on boys’ teams,” the lawsuit states, adding that it would contradict medical treatment that the minors have been receiving.
Parents of the transgenders say they are pleased with the court’s decision.
“We are relieved that the judge saw past the misconceptions and harmful rhetoric used to demonize transgender girls. Our daughter is looking forward to making new friends and playing the sports that she loves,” Jane Doe’s parents said in a statement from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is helping to represent the family.
Arizona officials who sponsored the law said the law is fair and passes federal regulations by protecting boys and girls.
“Title IX was aimed at giving girls equal opportunities for playing sports. When a biological boy plays in a girls’ sport, it disadvantages the girls,” Horne told The Associated Press when the lawsuit was filed in April. “There have been many news stories about girls who worked hard to excel at their sports, found they could not when they had to compete against biological boys and were devastated by that.”
The families claim that the ban violates the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution, Title IX, and the Americans with Disabilities and the Rehabilitation Acts.
“This law bans transgender girls from competing with other girls in every sport, at every grade level, and regardless of each girl’s individual circumstances,” Rachel Berg, staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a press release in April. “It cannot survive constitutional scrutiny and endangers transgender children.”
Both transgenders undergo medical treatment for their gender dysphoria, and have been recommended by their medical professionals to adopt the identify of a girl in all aspects of their lives.
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