West Virginia’s law is the first such set of restrictions on trangender athletes to be paused this year while legal challenges are ongoing. | Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesA federal judge decided Wednesday to temporarily block a West Virginia law that bars transgender women and girls from participating on school sports teams that match their gender identity.
They asked the judge for a preliminary injunction because cross-country team practices start this month. The law took effect on July 1, and the principal of Bridgeport Middle School, where Pepper-Jackson will be attending, told the girl's mother in May that the law would bar her from participating on the girls team in the fall.
New laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on teams that match their gender identity took effect this month in several states. Mississippi, Montana, Florida, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama all signed transgender athlete restrictions this year. “This statute as applied to B.P.J. is not substantially related to providing equal athletic opportunities for girls,” he said, though adding he will proceed with the case “as if the State’s offered objective is genuine.”
Iran mullahs and Afghanistan Taliban control women with segregation and defining attire. The US and certain EU countries control women by usurping their identity and replacing them. The former is direct, the latter insidious. Nowhere are women free.