A4TE Urges Supreme Court to Uphold Trans Students’ Right to Participate in School Sports

[Washington, D.C.] – Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) and co-counsel Tucker Ellis LLP filed a friend-of-the-court brief in State of West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Hecox v. Little, two companion cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that will determine whether states can exclude transgender youth  from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

“These cases will decide whether trans kids are allowed to belong — not just in sports, but in their schools and communities,” said Kelly Parry-Johnson, Senior Staff Attorney at Advocates for Trans Equality. “Trans students are simply asking for the chance to participate, to run alongside their peers, and to be treated with the same dignity and respect as any other student. These laws aren’t about fairness — they’re about exclusion. Unfortunately, our nation has a long history of excluding and punishing people for being trans. That must stop today.”

Amici include ten legal scholars and historians with expertise in the history of gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ+ rights. The brief underscores the longstanding history of de jure discrimination—that is, discrimination by the legal system—against transgender people.  The brief urges the Court to consider this history and argues that, because of this historical discrimination, classifications based on transgender identity must have a strong justification under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

“Transgender people existed long before this country was founded,” said Gabriel Arkles, Co-Interim Legal Director at Advocates for Trans Equality. “And for most of our nation's history, they have been criminalized and excluded from much of society simply for being trans.”

Becky Pepper-Jackson, a middle school student in West Virginia, has been at the center of litigation for over two years for simply trying to run on her school’s girls’ track and cross-country teams. Lindsay Hecox, a college student in Idaho, has similarly faced years of exclusion and legal hurdles in her effort to participate in club sports at college. Both cases involve state laws that categorically ban trans girls and women from participating on teams that match their gender identity, regardless of individual ability, performance, or qualification.

“I just want to run,” said Becky in earlier testimony. “It’s something I love, and it makes me feel like I’m part of something.”

Since 2020, over 20 states have enacted legislation targeting transgender students in sports — often pushed by national groups with a stated goal of removing trans people from public life. These laws do not protect fairness in competition; instead, they reinforce discrimination and contribute to hostile school environments. 

A4TE’s brief urges the Court to consider these bans in the context of the severe and pervasive history of discrimination transgender people have been subjected to by state sources, including criminal prosecutions under cross dressing bans and fraud charges, forced institutionalization, exclusion from civil rights laws, marriage, and parental rights, and discrimination by state actors in immigration proceedings and in custodial settings. This historical discrimination means that transgender people should receive heightened scrutiny under the Constitution. The brief urges the Supreme Court to affirm the lower court rulings that blocked these laws from taking effect, allowing Becky and Lindsay to participate on the same terms as their peers.

“Sports are supposed to teach teamwork, leadership, and self-confidence,” Parry-Johnson added. For trans youth in schools that don’t affirm who they are, sports too often become a source of stigma and exclusion. These young people are not hypothetical. They are students, teammates, friends, and daughters. And the message these laws send — that they don’t belong — is both cruel and unconstitutional.” 

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Kelly Parry-Johnson, Gabriel Arkles, Sydney Duncan, Shayna Medley, and Seran Gee of A4TE represent amici, along with co-counsel Chad Eggspuehler of Tucker Ellis LLP. Anya Marino, Jack Einstein, Seethal Britto, Ambika Nuggihalli and Alex Cross also assisted on the brief. Special thanks to University of Maryland School of Law’s LGBTQI+ Equality Clinic’s students Leah Bartlett, Hannah DeGraw, Tabonnie Nesmith, Lawrence Sturn, Colin Ward, and Asa Zaretsky.

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About A4TE

Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) is an organization that fights for the legal and political rights of transgender people in the United States. Introduced in July 2024 after the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and the National Center for Transgender Equality merged, A4TE is the largest trans-led advocacy organization in the U.S. and brings together experts, advocates, and communities to shift government and society toward an equitable future where trans people live joyful lives without barriers.

Media Contact

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