{"id":4137,"date":"2023-01-08T14:28:53","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T14:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/?p=4137"},"modified":"2023-01-08T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T14:30:53","slug":"court-upholds-wv-law-protecting-womens-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/2023\/01\/08\/court-upholds-wv-law-protecting-womens-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Court upholds WV law protecting women\u2019s sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alliance<\/p>\n

CHARLESTON, W.V.\u00a0\u2013 A federal district court issued a\u00a0decision\u00a0Thursday that upholds West Virginia\u2019s Save Women\u2019s Sports Act, H.B. 3293, rejecting a legal challenge to the law that would have undermined women\u2019s sports in the state by allowing males who identify as female to compete with females in girls\u2019 and women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Lainey Armistead, a former West Virginia State University soccer player who intervened in the lawsuit,\u00a0B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education, to defend the law. West Virginia enacted the law to ensure equal opportunities for women in sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s decision is a win for reality.\u00a0The truth matters, and it is crucial that our laws and policies recognize that the physical differences between men and women matter, especially in a context like sports,\u201d said ADF Senior Counsel Christiana Kiefer. \u201cFemale athletes deserve to compete on a level playing field. Allowing males to compete in girls\u2019 sports destroys fair competition, safety on the field, and women\u2019s athletic opportunities. Female athletes across the country are losing medals, podium spots, public recognition, and opportunities to compete because of males competing in women\u2019s sports. The court was right to affirm that West Virginia\u2019s law is not only constitutional, but consistent with Title IX.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some females may be able to outperform some males, it is generally accepted that, on average, males outperform females athletically because of inherent physical differences between the sexes,\u201d the court wrote in its decision. \u201cThis is not an overbroad generalization, but rather a general principle that realistically reflects the average physical differences between the sexes. Given [the challenger]\u2019s concession that circulating testosterone in males creates a biological difference in athletic performance, I do not see how I could find that the state\u2019s classification based on biological sex is not substantially related to its interest in providing equal athletic opportunities for females.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that protecting fairness in women\u2019s sports is a women\u2019s rights issue,\u201d said Armistead. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about fair play for me: It\u2019s about protecting fairness and safety for female athletes across West Virginia. It\u2019s about ensuring that future generations of female athletes are not discriminated against but have access to the same equal athletic opportunities that shaped my life. Being an athlete in college has made me even more passionate about the sport that I play. I want fairness, equality, and safety in sports. And I want to ensure those standards are protected for other girls, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timothy D. Ducar, one of more than 3,500 attorneys allied with ADF, is co-counsel for Armistead in the case. Brandon Steele is serving as local counsel.<\/p>\n

This case isn\u2019t over yet. There could be an appeal. When the law fails to recognize the biological differences between men and women, it\u2019s women and girls who suffer. In states across the country, they remain unprotected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHARLESTON, W.V.\u00a0\u2013 A federal district court issued a\u00a0decision\u00a0Thursday that upholds West Virginia\u2019s Save Women\u2019s Sports Act, H.B. 3293, rejecting a legal challenge to the law that [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4140,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumniforacatholicusd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}