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The future of women’s sports may be at stake as female athletes wait to see if the Supreme Court will hear cases regarding transgender participation in women’s sports.
Former college football player Lainey Armistead said Fox News digital that she has joined Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) lawsuits on behalf of future generations of women and girls, in the hope that they can have the same experiences she had growing up playing football on a level playing field.
Armistead attended West Virginia State University, where she received a full scholarship to play soccer and serve as team captain, but said when she learned about the struggles other women and girls face, including losing their place on the podium, missing out on scholarships and also Because biological males were allowed into locker rooms, on the field and in hotel rooms with other female athletes, she felt compelled to stand up for other women and girls.
“It was so amazing and formative for me to be able to play with my brothers,” she said. “But my father always said, ‘Take it easy on your sister and don’t be too violent because you could really hurt her’ and I was a bit resentful at that point, but I knew what my father knew and what my brothers knew, namely that I was biologically different.”
Lainey Armistead (Alliance Defending Freedom)
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“They were stronger, better and faster than me from a young age and I don’t want to admit that my younger brother was always faster than me, but unfortunately he is,” she told Fox News Digital.
West Virginia passed the Save Women Sports Act in 2021, which bans transgender girls from competing in sports with biological girls.
“I never had that difficult decision of whether or not I should play against a biological male because of West Virginia law that protected me,” she said.
However, other athletes in the state did not get the same opportunity. Despite state law, changes to Title IX have created a battle between state and federal law.
The Biden-Harris administration is seeking to redefine sex discrimination through changes to Title IX to include gender identity, which critics say would undermine women’s equal opportunities in sports and threaten their privacy and safety in private spaces. The changes were rolled out nationwide in August in states where the rule has no legal challenges.
Lainey Armistead (Alliance Defending Freedom)
When West Virginia’s law was passed, a 13-year-old transgender high school student in the state, identified in a lawsuit as BPJ, successfully obtained a federal court order from competing in women’s sports.
Under the order, BPJ was allowed to compete with women and girls in the state of West Virginia. Adaleia Cross, a high school freshman and West Virginia girls athlete, has claimed that BPJ, who used the female locker room, sexually harassed her and repeatedly beat her in track and field, before eventually banning her from competing in throwing events.
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As a result, ADF is representing Adaleia Cross’s parents on behalf of their daughter as part of a Tennessee lawsuit against Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, who claims the Biden administration’s Title IX update amounts to an illegal rewrite.
Rachel Rouleau, legal counsel for ADF, told Fox News Digital that girls deserve to compete on a level playing field, which ADF advocates in the many cases working their way through the legal system.
“Unfortunately, over the last three years we have seen this one male athlete displace almost 300 girls,” Rouleau said. “That really shows the impact of even one male athlete being allowed onto the women’s sports teams and that’s really why Lainey got involved because she doesn’t want this to happen to more women and girls across the country. “
Lainey Armistead (Alliance Defending Freedom)
In Armistead’s case, the district court said the West Virginia Save Women’s Sports law complied with Title IX, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision.
In another Supreme Court case, ADF is representing two female athletes in defense of the Idaho Save Women’s Sports law challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union. in Hecox v. Little.
“That’s why we’re appealing this case to the Supreme Court so they will find what the court found, which is that this is compliant with Title IX,” Rouleau told Fox News Digital. “Title IX was originally passed to create this equal opportunity for women and girls and that is what West Virginia law does. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will uphold that.”
“This redefinition of sex and gender identity is so insidious in so many ways and is actually harming opportunities for students, teachers, female athletes, men and women,” she added.
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Lainey Armistead (Alliance Defending Freedom)
Currently, there are 26 states where the changes to Title IX are not in effect due to preliminary injunctions, meaning that as long as the lawsuit continues, these laws will not go into effect in those areas, Rouleau said.
“These changes really go against the grain of the states that have passed Save Women’s Sports laws,” she told Fox News Digital. “There are 25 states across the country that have Save Women’s Sports laws, such as West Virginia and Idaho, and these Title IX changes would replace those laws, putting women like Lainey and other female athletes at risk and would be forced to compete on the same sports teams. “
“It’s not even just about the sports aspect with these Title IX changes, it’s also about the privacy and safety aspect because girls and women can’t compete on a level playing field if they can’t even change safely in their own locker rooms and bathrooms. ” she added. “That’s a really important part of these changes, just to make sure women have a private space to change and use the restroom with their teammates.”
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Kendall Tietz is a writer at Fox News Digital.