Middle School Girls Banned From Track Event Over Protest of Trans Athlete

Five West Virginia middle-school track athletes who protested the participation of a transgender student in a recent competition have been barred from future meets and are now engaged in a legal battle with their school district that could end up at the Supreme Court.

On April 18, during the 2024 Harrison County Middle School Championships, the student athletes — all girls — made local headlines by stepping out of the shot-put circle, choosing to forfeit rather than compete against a 13-year-old transgender female. The silent protest came after a federal appeals court struck down part of West Virginia's transgender sports ban, allowing the 13-year-old in question to compete at her team's events.

Now the state's attorney general is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in.

The students' protest, lasting about 10 seconds, was aimed at expressing their disagreement with the decision last month from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state "Save Women's Sports Act" was a violation of the 13-year-old's Title IX protections, which ban sex-discrimination in schools.

Their protest has cost them a chance to compete in future events — a move that has now triggered a state lawsuit alleging infringement on their rights to free speech.

"The only thing this decision does is teach these children to keep their mouths shut and not disagree with what they saw as unfairness," said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who has publicly criticized the school's actions and has filed suit in support of the five girls. All five of them were present at a recent press conference held by Morrisey in the state Capitol, and received standing ovations, according to local media reports.

"Silencing these students isn't just unfair; it's un-American," Morrisey said. "I will do everything in my power to defend these brave young girls."

The lawsuit filed by Morrisey claims that the students did not receive any previous warning or information about any rule violation, nor were they informed of their rights to appeal the school's decision. The next track meet went on without their participation.

The school district's decision to bar the students from future track competitions has drawn criticism from Republicans like West Virginia Senate President Craig Blair, who argued that it reflects a "galling lack of concern" for the students' rights to free speech and concerns about fair competition.

Newsweek reached out to the Harrison County School Board on Thursday for comment.

The ACLU of West Virginia, which was among the plaintiffs who filed the original suit when the Save Women's Sports Act was signed into law in 2021, has come out in support of last month's appellate court decision. Aubrey Sparks, legal director of the ACLU-WV, called that ruling "a beacon of hope for transgender students across our state."

The controversy comes amid broader debates over transgender sports participation, just as President Joe Biden unveiled sweeping new changes that expand Title IX protections to include transgender students. Those changes, which are being challenged in court by five Republican attorneys general, are set to take effect in August.

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