The US Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld laws in Idaho and West Virginia that bar transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports, a ruling that Donald Trump immediately hailed as a 'big win' and one his administration is already treating as a green light for wider crackdowns.
After years of litigation over whether Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education, guarantees transgender students the right to join sports teams that match their gender identity. In both states, Republican lawmakers framed their bans as necessary protection for girls and women 'biologically' assigned female at birth, while civil rights groups argued the measures singled out some of the most vulnerable students in US schools for exclusion.
