Federal judge in Idaho stops state from implementing ban on transgender athletes
A federal judge in Idaho has issued a temporary injunction to keep the state from implementing a controversial law banning transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports while a legal challenge moves forward.
The ruling means that transgender athletes wanting to participate in sports that match their gender identity will be able to this fall at both the college and secondary school level.
U.S. District Judge David Nye ruled Monday that because the plaintiffs are likely to win in court as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Legal Voice challenging the constitutionality of the law, a preliminary injunction is warranted.
Nye said the law’s ban on transgender athletes “stands in stark contrast to the policies of elite athletic bodies that regulate sports both nationally and globally.” Nye also noted that the law “establishes a ‘dispute’ process that allows a currently undefined class of individuals to challenge a student’s sex.”
The law disallowing transgender athletes from playing on a team matching their gender identity contains a provision allowing anyone to challenge a person’s gender identity. It then would be incumbent upon the athletes to verify their gender through an exam or genetic testing.
The law, the first such statewide ban in the U.S., did not apply to transgender men and boys.
“I feel a major sense of relief,” said Lindsay Hecox, a plaintiff who wants to run track and cross country at Boise State, in an ACLU news release. “I love running, and part of what I enjoy about the sport is building relationships with a team. I’m a girl, and the right team for me is the girls’ team.”
Ritchie Eppink, legal director for ACLU Idaho, said in the release that the decision “will not only protect women and girls, but also the Idaho economy, as businesses have made it clear that they do not want to support any attack on transgender students.”
“Transgender people belong in Idaho, including on school sports teams,” Eppink said.
The athlete law was one of two anti-transgender measures that Idaho Republicans pushed through the Legislature in the 2020 session. Both were signed into law by Gov. Brad Little despite warnings from legal experts, including the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, that neither was likely to survive court challenges.
The other law, which prevented transgender people from changing their birth certificate to match their gender identity, has already been shelved by an Idaho judge who ruled that its implementation violated an injunction she first issued in 2018.
After the laws were signed by Little, the NCAA issued a statement indicating that the state could lose any events it was scheduled to host, including first- and second-round games in the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament next March, because of the transgender ban.
“Idaho’s House Bill 500 and resulting law is harmful to transgender student-athletes and conflicts with the NCAA’s core values of inclusivity, respect and the equitable treatment of all individuals,” it said in a June 11 statement.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Federal judge in Idaho stops state from implementing ban on transgender athletes."