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Who is affected by the Supreme Court's ruling on trans athletes in women's sports · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: I want to dig deeper now on another major case.
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  Speaker 1: The Court decided today upholding state bands on transgender athletes
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  Speaker 1: competing in girls and women's sports.
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  Speaker 2: For more.
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  Speaker 1: We're joined by Katie Barnes, who covers sports and gender
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  Speaker 1: as a senior writer for ESPN. They're also the author
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  Speaker 1: of fair Play, trans Athletes and the Fight for Fairness.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us, Thanks for having me so
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  Speaker 1: help us understand how wide of an impact this ruling
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  Speaker 1: will have, Who exactly will it affect?
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  Speaker 2: So I think the important thing is to say that
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  Speaker 2: it's not a nationwide ruling. The scope of the ruling
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  Speaker 2: is limited to the twenty seventh states who have who
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  Speaker 2: have this legislation in place, specifically the cases in Idaho
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  Speaker 2: and Western Virginia. The court held that those laws are
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  Speaker 2: allowed to stand, and so that applies that the other
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  Speaker 2: twenty five states of similar legislation will also be able
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  Speaker 2: to keep their laws on the books. But it does
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  Speaker 2: not go a step further by saying that not only
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  Speaker 2: did these laws not violate Title nine, but by having
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  Speaker 2: transgender inclusive policy.
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  Speaker 3: That is a violation of Title nine.
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  Speaker 2: So for the remaining states that don't have such laws
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  Speaker 2: on the books, they're legal outcome, they're able to decide
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  Speaker 2: that for themselves and keep the perspective that they have
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  Speaker 2: had in place.
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  Speaker 1: And what does this ruling mean for the plaintiffs personally
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  Speaker 1: a fifteen year old in West Virginia. The other is
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  Speaker 1: a former Boise State University student in Idaho.
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  Speaker 3: So for the fifteen year old in West Virginia, you know,
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  Speaker 3: her career is effectively over.
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  Speaker 2: In girl sports. If she wants to, she is able
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  Speaker 2: to compete in the men's category, in the boys category,
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  Speaker 2: but she has said that she does not want to
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  Speaker 2: do that. So in terms of being able to move
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  Speaker 2: forward and finish out her high school athletic career in
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  Speaker 2: girls sports, this ruling effectively, you know, ends that possibility
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  Speaker 2: for her. In terms of the other plaintiff in Idaho,
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  Speaker 2: she actually had petitioned the court to remove herself from
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  Speaker 2: the case by saying she did not want to pursue
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  Speaker 2: any additional athletic opportunities at at Boise State University and
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  Speaker 2: just wanted to finish out her academic career there and
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  Speaker 2: get her degree and move on with her life. And
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  Speaker 2: it's worth speaking to the fact that that particular plaintiff
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  Speaker 2: really spoke to the breadth of what types of sports
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  Speaker 2: are governed by these laws. She originally filed her filed
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  Speaker 2: her challenge on the basis of wanting to try out
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  Speaker 2: for the women's cross country team at Boise State, did
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  Speaker 2: not make that team, and then continued her challenge on
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  Speaker 2: the basis of wanting to play club sports at Boise State.
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  Speaker 2: So it's not just competitive interscholastic athletics that are affected
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  Speaker 2: by this legislation. It's also club sports as well as
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  Speaker 2: intrabural sports at the collegiate as well as these school
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  Speaker 2: sports levels.
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  Speaker 1: The states and advocacy groups that defended these bands, how
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  Speaker 1: are they interpreting today's ruling by the core?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I think for those who are in favor
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  Speaker 3: of this legislation, they are quite happy.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, it's been a lot of celebratory messages.
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  Speaker 2: I've heard from Barbara Eheart, who wrote HB five hundred
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  Speaker 2: out of Idaho, and she called it a significant victory.
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  Speaker 2: And so for folks who want to see transgenderal girls
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  Speaker 2: not able to play girls sports, they are feeling very
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  Speaker 2: good about this ruling today.
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  Speaker 1: Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who once coached girls basketball, He underlined
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  Speaker 1: the importance of the athlete's dedication. He tried to it
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  Speaker 1: appears to speak to the humanity of all involved. He wrote,
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  Speaker 1: No student athlete on either side of the issue, whether
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  Speaker 1: a biological female or a transgender, deserves to be ostracized
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  Speaker 1: or vilified. What does fairness and competition look like now,
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  Speaker 1: both for the transgender athletes who want an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: compete and for the girls and women who believe it's
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  Speaker 1: unfair to compete against athletes who were biologically male. Based
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  Speaker 1: on your reporting, is there a framework or an approach
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  Speaker 1: that can meaningfully account for both concerns.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting question because prior to HP five hundred passing at
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  Speaker 2: Idaho in twenty twenty, and.
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  Speaker 1: We should explain HP five hundred, this was the first
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  Speaker 1: law that was passed, and it banned transgender girls from
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  Speaker 1: competing in women's sports at the school and collegiate level.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: And before that law, there was a really robust policy
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  Speaker 2: mechanism that was exploring those questions and also allowed for
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  Speaker 2: the answer to be different at various levels of competition
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  Speaker 2: and through various age groups. And so there were high
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  Speaker 2: school associations with different policies from the Olympics, et cetera.
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  Speaker 2: Et cetera. And even within natural governing bodies, you saw
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  Speaker 2: different policies for different age groups and seriousness of competition.
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  Speaker 2: And with the passage of HB five hundred, that really
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  Speaker 2: reframed the context for where these battles would be fought
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  Speaker 2: and started to really reshape the policy and legislative landscape
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  Speaker 2: around transgender athlete eligibility. A lot of that conversation has
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  Speaker 2: fallen away, and so to answer that question, it's very
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  Speaker 2: challenging because I think that there are those who see
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  Speaker 2: any inclusion or allowance of a transgender girl or woman
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  Speaker 2: to compete in the girls and women's category as a
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  Speaker 2: functional failure of policy, and there are those who would
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  Speaker 2: like to see transgender girls women be eligible under some circumstances,
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  Speaker 2: and those two perspectives are very, very hard to reconcile.
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  Speaker 2: And I think some folks would like science to answer
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  Speaker 2: this question for us, and it's very complicated. It's a
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  Speaker 2: small sample size when it comes to transgender athletes, and
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  Speaker 2: the science is still new in terms of the effects
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  Speaker 2: of hormone treatments and what age group, etc. And how
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  Speaker 2: that can impact or not, you know, athletic advantage in sports,
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  Speaker 2: and at what level we should care about having more
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  Speaker 2: restrictive or more inclusive policy.
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  Speaker 1: Katie Barnes, senior writer for ESPN and the author of
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  Speaker 1: fair Play, trans Athletes, and the Fight for Fairness. Katie,
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  Speaker 1: thanks again for your time this evening.
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  Speaker 2: Really appreciate it.
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