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Super Bowl-winning head coach Barry Switzer and 31 Olympians have signed an amicus brief in support of the legal defense to “save women’s sports” ahead of two upcoming Supreme Court trials involving trans athletes. The signatories also include 12 Olympic medalists, including eight gold medalists.
Switzerland’s women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova, Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Summer Sanders, Donna de Varona, Nancy Hogshead, Laura Wilkinson, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Rhi Jeffrey, as well as former NFL quarterback Steve Stenstrom are among the biggest sports figures who have signed the memoir.
The signatories also include several female athletes who have had to compete against biological trans male athletes, including fencer Stephanie Turner, former NCAA volleyball player Macy Petty, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Monika Burzynska and U.S. Masters swimmers Wendy Enderle, Cissy Cochran and Angie Griffin.
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Head coach Barry Switzer of the Dallas Cowboys gives instructions during a game against the Arizona Cardinals at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. The Cowboys won 24-6 on November 9, 1997. (Stephen Dunn/Allsport)
The memorandum has a total of 124 signatures, which also include the family members of the athletes who signed.
The brief argues that state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that protect women’s sports from trans athletes also protect women and girls from mental and physical harm.
“By ruling in favor of the West Virginia and Idaho laws, this Court can reaffirm that women should not lose their equal opportunity to compete in sports on an equal basis. By affirming the rights of states to stand with women and girls, this Court can ensure that women’s fundamental right to be treated equally remains the legal standard in the United States,” the brief states.
“It is difficult to express the pain, humiliation, frustration and shame that women feel when they are forced to compete against men in sport. It is public humiliation and suffering, an exclusion from women’s own category – a place that belongs solely to them… The shame does not disappear once the competition is over. It remains forever as a memory of sanctioned public ridicule… The psychological, tangible and long-term harm suffered by women forced to compete against men is irreversible.
FORMER SJSU VOLLEYBALL STAR REVEALS “SEVERE” HEALTH PROBLEM ARISING FROM TITLE IX CONFLICT WITH SCHOOL
On the other side, 130 congressional Democrats signed an amicus brief supporting the trans athlete plaintiffs in both cases.
The coalition, which includes nine senators and 121 House members, is led by Congressional Equality Caucus co-chair Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
The list of signatories includes prominent figures from the party’s left wing, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The list also includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The list does not include moderate Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
What you need to know about both cases
The cases of Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ were each initially legal victories that allowed biological males to circumvent their state’s laws to compete with women. But now that the cases are set to be heard by the Supreme Court, a ruling could have a huge impact on the legality of trans athletes in women’s sports in the future.
Oral arguments will be heard on January 13 in Washington, DC.
The Little v. Hecox lawsuit was originally filed by trans athlete Lindsay Hecox in 2020, when the athlete wanted to join the Boise State women’s cross country team and had the state law blocking trans athletes from competing in women’s sports blocked.
Hecox was joined by an anonymous biological student, Jane Doe, who was concerned about the risk of being subjected to the gender dispute screening process. The challenge was successful when a federal judge blocked Idaho’s state law.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023, before the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case. Hecox then asked the court last month to drop the challenge, saying the athlete “has therefore decided to permanently retire and refrain from participating in women’s sports at BSU or Idaho.”
Hecox tried to have the case dismissed in September after the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case, but U.S. District Judge David Nye, a presidential appointee Donald Trump in 2017 denied Hecox’s motion to dismiss the case.
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The West Virginia v. BPJ lawsuit was brought against the state of West Virginia by trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson, who initially obtained a preliminary injunction allowing the athlete to compete on the school’s sports teams. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violated Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court has now agreed to hear the state’s appeal.
In a response, the athlete’s mother, Heather Jackson, supported West Virginia law which prohibits transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports violates Title IX.
However, Title IX does not explicitly protect the right of biologically male transgender people to identify as women. The Trump Administration and the West Virginia state government do not interpret Title IX to protect this right.
