Supreme Court transgender athlete cases FAQ: What to expect - ESPN

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases pertaining to transgender athletes on Tuesday: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. The cases bring the national debate over whether transgender girls and women should be eligible to compete in girls' and women's sports to the country's highest court.

Little v. Hecox is a dispute over the first state law, Idaho's HB 500, that barred transgender girls and women from girls' and women's school and college sports. Gov. Brad Little signed the bill into law in March 2020, and Lindsay Hecox, a transgender woman, challenged it weeks later because she wanted to try out for Boise State's women's track and cross country teams. A U.S. district court in Idaho granted Hecox an injunction, and she tried out for the Broncos' cross country team, but she did not make it. Hecox instead participated in women's club soccer and running, which are also affected by HB 500. After a series of appeals by the state, the Supreme Court agreed last July to hear the case. Hecox's attorneys argue, in part, that the Idaho law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Similarly, West Virginia v. B.P.J. puts West Virginia's HB 3293, one of 27 state laws that restrict transgender girls and women from sports, in front of the Supreme Court. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old transgender girl, was entering middle school when the law passed in April 2021. Pepper-Jackson wanted to compete on her school's sports teams, but her school principal told the family the state law prevented her participation. Pepper-Jackson and her family challenged West Virginia's law the summer before she began middle school, and she has since been allowed to participate in cross