Dear John,
Next week, the Supreme Court is hearing two cases that could significantly impact Title IX and constitutional protections for transgender people. Trump and his allies have been laser focused on attacking trans people, especially trans women and girl athletes in sports.
Let me be clear, banning trans girls and women from sports harms us all . Title IX exists to protect all students from sex discrimination, harassment, and gender policing while creating opportunities for ALL girls and women.
Here’s everything you need to know about these cases:
The Background
These cases challenge West Virginia and Idaho’s laws banning transgender women and girls from playing on women’s and girls’ sports teams.
* West Virginia v. B.P.J. focuses on a 15-year-old trans girl who was first denied the chance to run track alongside her classmates when she was 11-years-old after West Virginia enacted its sports ban.

* Little v. Hecox was a lawsuit initially brought by two athletes in Idaho— a transgender college student and a cisgender high school student.
These cases claim that the sports bans violate a crucial federal civil rights law—Title IX—and constitutional protections. Federal courts have already blocked these bans for being discriminatory.
Why This Matters:
* State bans violate the law. State bans violate both the Constitution and Title IX. Still, since 2020, 28 states have enacted laws excluding transgender students—especially women and girls—from school sports, while the Trump administration has illegally threatened to withhold federal funding from states and universities to force compliance and push transgender students out of sports and other educational opportunities.

* Anti-trans sports bans put ALL girls and women at risk. Bans reinforce the very stereotypes we have fought decades to overcome. When a Utah State Board of Education member publicly and wrongly suggested that a 16-year-old cis girl athlete was trans simply because she had short hair and baggy clothes, the resulting harassment was so severe that her family obtained police protection. This was not an isolated incident. Women athletes—especially Black and brown women—who do not conform to narrow sex stereotypes have long been targeted as "not real women,” subjected to harassment and even invasive, traumatic examinations.

* Title IX protects the rights of trans girls and women, including in sports. Trans girls deserve the same chance to play—and gain the academic, social, and emotional benefits of sports—as any other student. Excluding trans athletes is sex discrimination, period.
What NWLC is Doing
We’ve partnered with Democracy Forward and Title IX scholar Professor Deborah Brake to submit an amicus brief in this case that supports the trans athletes and highlights the importance of Title IX. We explained Title IX’s history and application to sports, and how anti-trans sports bans reinforce sex stereotypes—the opposite of what Title IX was created to do.
And I am honored to join advocates and athletes on January 13 to speak at the rally in front of the Supreme Court about why, as national experts on women’s rights and Title IX, NWLC supports the rights of trans women and girls, including athletes.
We will continue to push back on the lies and misinformation that the Trump administration and its allies spread. We will not let gender discrimination and transphobia go unchallenged, especially when it is perpetuated under the lie of “protecting women." Every woman and girl, including our trans sisters, deserves equal access and opportunities to play sports free from the threat of persecution and discrimination. Thank you for being in this fight with us to create a world where gender justice means equity for all. [[link removed]]
In solidarity,
Shiwali Patel
she/her
Senior Director of Education Justice
National Women’s Law Center
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