B.P.J. v. West Virginia (U.S.C.A. 4th Circuit, 2023)

B.P.J. is a transgender girl in middle school who challenged her exclusion from participating in school sports by West Virginia's anti-transgender sports ban. A district court found that Title IX does not protect a transgender student’s right to participate in school sports consistent with the student’s gender identity. In a brief led by the National Women’s Law Center, ADL joined 51 organizations committed to gender justice to support B.P.J.’s appeal of this district court decision. The brief specifically highlights the ways that Title IX protects all girls, women, and LGBTQIA+ athletes from sex discrimination that's tied to overbroad and harmful stereotypes. It points out that targeting transgender women and girls for discrimination threatens opportunities for all women and girls, and is dangerous and creates harm for transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex women and girls. The brief also addresses how policing who is and isn’t a girl or a woman is especially harmful for Black and brown women and girls.