Hirono, Balint, Fernández Lead Colleagues in Urging SCOTUS to Protect Transgender Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Congressional Equality Caucus Co-Chair Representative Becca Balint (D-VT), and Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) led 130 members of Congress in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the cases of West Virgina v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, where the Court will be considering whether categorical bans on transgender students participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity violate Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.

The brief, which argues that categorical bans on transgender students participating in school sports violate Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, was joined by eight of Senator Hirono’s colleagues in the Senate, and over 120 Representatives.

“All students deserve equal access to opportunity in schools—whether in the classroom, on the playing field, or in other settings. No student should be discriminated against based on who they are,” said Senator Hirono. “A categorical ban on transgender students participating in sports not only harms these students, but also subjects women and girls to harassment and discrimination, and leads to the policing of children’s bodies. This contradicts the very purpose of Title IX: ending discrimination in federally-funded education programs. These bans are blatant discrimination, and the Court should say so.”

In their brief, the Members argue that categorical bans on transgender students participating in school sports violate Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.

The brief highlights:

1. How categorical bans harm all girls and women—including cisgender girls and women—through harassment and policing of children’s “reproductive biology;”
2. How categorical bans both undermine the ability of transgender students to participate in their school community and are not substantially related to an important government interest; and
3. The recent failures to amend Title IX to enact a categorical ban.

The brief includes examples where a school athletic association secretly investigated a cisgender female student without telling her parents, where a school board member falsely suggested that a high school basketball athlete was transgender—subjecting her to relentless harassment and bullying, and another example where investigators repeatedly asked individuals to describe a student in various stages of undress.

In addition to Senator Hirono, the amicus brief was joined in the Senate by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The full text of the amicus brief is available here.

Senator Hirono has long been a champion of Title IX and other efforts to limit harassment and discrimination in federally-funded education programs. Last Congress, she reintroduced the Patsy T. Mink and Louise M. Slaughter Gender Equity in Education Act (GEEA), which would provide additional resources for ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to better implement Title IX. In 2023, she blocked Republicans from passing the anti-transgender Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act—legislation that would have banned transgender women and girls from participating in sports consistent with their gender. Senator Hirono has also introduced legislation to strengthen civil rights protections against harassment and discrimination in schools.

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