A federal judge upheld Thursday a 2021 West Virginia law barring biological males from girls’ and women’s sports, ruling that the state legislature has the authority to issue definitions of sex, in a victory for advocates of female sports.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin ruled in favor of the state in its defense of House Bill 2393, called the Save Women’s Sports Bill, which was challenged by an 11-year-old male-born student called B.P.J. who sought to play on the girls’ track team based on gender identity.
Judge Goodwin, an appointee of former President Clinton, said that “a transgender girl is biologically male and, barring medical intervention, would undergo male puberty like other biological males.