Latest news with #SaveWomen'sSportsAct
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
West Virginia track state champion makes political statement during award ceremony
CHARLESTON, (WBOY) — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey was not the only person to make a public statement about the currently unenforceable Save Women's Sports Act over the weekend. During the West Virginia State Track Meet over the weekend, Hadley Horne, a senior from Grafton High School, became a repeat West Virginia state champion in the Class AA girls 300 meter hurdles, with a time of 45.41, more than a second faster than second place and the third fastest time across all three classifications. During her award ceremony, Horne chose to wear a shirt that said 'Men don't belong in women's sports.' A photo of the ceremony is going viral on social media, with thousands of people voicing their opinions on the Save Women's Sports Act, the West Virginia law that says student athletes must compete based on the sex they were assigned at birth. The law was deemed unconstitutional by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year and is not currently enforceable. North central West Virginia athletes win 26 events at State Track Meet Horne's shirt was likely in response to transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson competing in the girls AAA discus and shot put at the championship meet. Pepper-Jackson, who was assigned male at birth and competed as a freshman for Bridgeport High School, finished 3rd place in the girls discus throw and 8th place in the girls shot put, scoring a total of seven points for Bridgeport's girls team. The case of Becky Pepper-Jackson (B.P.J.) vs the West Virginia Board of Education regarding West Virginia's Save Women's Sports Act has been ongoing since 2021. Gov. Morrisey, who has been trying to get the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, said on Saturday that he is 'urging officials to keep separate scores so that the true winners can be awarded once we win in court,' calling Pepper-Jackson competing on the girls' side 'wrong and unfair.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Morrisey: ‘We will not stop fighting to protect girls' sports'
CHARLESTON, (WBOY) — Governor Patrick Morrisey made a Facebook post Saturday in response to a transgender athlete qualifying for the WVSSAC State Track Meet. In his post, Morrisey stated that it was 'wrong and unfair' for a 'boy' to be competing in girls' sports and that he was 'urging officials to keep separate scores so that the true winners can be awarded once we win in court.' PACE Enterprises holds golf tournament fundraiser in Morgantown Morrisey has spoken out against boys competing in girls' sports before and has asked that the case of West Virginia's 'Save Women's Sports Act' be taken to the Supreme Court after it was deemed unconstitutional by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. The athlete Morrisey is referring to, Becky Pepper-Johnson, or B.P.J., of Bridgeport High School, was assigned male at birth but identifies as transgender and was granted an injunction to compete on the girls team in 2023. Morrisey, who was the West Virginia Attorney General at the time, said the injunction 'harms biologically female athletes, too, who will continue to be displaced as long as biological males join women's sports teams. In that way, the majority's cursory decision undermines equal protection—it doesn't advance it.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In states, some Democrats back anti-trans bills
LEVITTOWN, Penn. — James Malone's victory in a Pennsylvania special election this year was a Democratic triumph. The small-town mayor broke the GOP's grip on Lancaster County, flipping a seat that Donald Trump had carried by 15 points. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who campaigned for Malone, thanked Pennsylvanians for rejecting 'the extremism and division coming out of DC.' Last week, shortly after being sworn in, Malone voted with four other Democrats and every Republican for the Save Women's Sports Act. Like legislation that had passed in the US House, and in dozens of other states, it limited female sports from kindergarten through college to 'biological females.' Malone had told constituents that he planned to vote for it, and LGBTQ rights groups had urged him to reconsider, but it passed easily. 'This draws into question whether Pennsylvania remains a safe place for the transgender community,' said David Moore, the founder of the Pennsylvania Equality Project, an LGBTQ rights group that opposed the bill. 'If Democrats back away at the state level from defending the community, we have to ask whether anybody is actively supporting us in a way that protects and preserves our rights.' The Trump administration is enforcing a binary definition of sex and gender, reversing pro-trans Biden-era policies, from the military to the locker room. In Congress, just two Democrats, both moderates from Republican-trending seats, have voted with them, supporting legislation to bar transgender athletes from women's sports. But in the states, a growing number of Democratic state legislators have supported Republican-led bills. They've been condemned by pro-LGBTQ+ groups, and rarely explained their votes. And they've been given some space by their party. 'I think every member's got to make their own decisions about what they're going to do,' Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairman Sharif Street, a state senator from Philadelphia, told Semafor after a Democratic town hall here. Asked if senators who voted for the bill might lose resources from the party, Street repeated that 'every member has got to make their own decision.' The momentum for anti-trans legislation in the states grew throughout the Biden presidency, and picked up once his successor began changing federal policy. Legislators have picked up Democratic votes along the way. In Michigan, eight House Democrats voted for a Republican resolution that urged the state's high school athletics associations to keep trans athletes out of women's sports. In New York, where Democrats hold solid majorities in the state legislature, three of their senators voted to advance a bill to bar 'biologically male students at birth' from competing with women. None of those Democrats explained their votes. In Pennsylvania, just one of the senators who supported the Save Women's Sports Act explained why on the floor: Lisa Boscola, whose Lehigh Valley seat moved toward Trump last year. 'Separating biological males and females for sports, especially after puberty, is necessary for fairness,' said Boscola in her floor speech. 'What's frustrating me more than anything is that each side of this issue argues it's all or nothing. I do not see it that way.' National and state Democrats have debated how much heterodoxy they can accept on these sorts of bills. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender member of Congress, has talked with colleagues about opening a 'big tent' for Democrats who might disagree with them on gender. 'You have to allow people to grow,' McBride told Semafor last year. 'You have to create space for people to grow. And the fact that there is still room for growth for some people does not make them evil.' Some Democrats who've backed Republican bills have gotten rough receptions from party activists. But they have not been kicked out of the tent. Just two of McBride's colleagues voted for the federal version of a 'women's sports' bill this year; one of them, Rep. Henry Cuellar, faced a potential condemnation from Texas Democrats, which mentioned that vote among the reasons for the party to cut him off. Last week, the party killed the condemnation resolution. After last year's elections, when Republicans spent more than $215 million on transgender-focused ads against Democrats, the GOP has grown confident that any legislation about this is an effective wedge. There have been setbacks, especially in Montana, where a coalition of Democrats and libertarian Republicans have blocked bills that would punish public drag shows and remove children from their parents' homes if the children identified as transgender. But where the GOP has a majority — including Montana — the sports bills have passed. 'The support of five Democrat senators of the Save Women's Sports Act shows the bipartisan commonsense nature of the legislation,' said Pennsylvania Sen. Judy Ward, one of the bill's GOP sponsors, in a statement to Semafor. 'By voting for the legislation, those Democrat members stood with me, my Republican colleagues, female athletes, and the majority of Pennsylvanians to ensure that women's rights to fair and safe competition are protected.' Pennsylvania Democrats, who control the state House, are not expected to take up the sports bill. Shawn Thierry, a former Texas Democratic legislator who voted with Republicans on gender bills, said that her former party needed to allow more dissent. (Thierry jumped to the GOP after losing her primary last year.) 'I commend any Democrat elected official who is willing to take a principled stand on this issue to protect children,' Thierry told Semafor. 'However, it takes more than just pushing a button to take a vote and then skulking away and hoping no one noticed. You have to speak out, if you truly believe in something.' There are some signs of voter fatigue about anti-transgender legislation. On Tuesday, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert lost to Democratic challenger John Ewing Jr in a historic upset; a pro-Stothert PAC had run ads and mailers accusing him of supporting 'transition surgeries for minors' and 'men in girls' sports.' Ewing had never taken a position on the sports issue, which is moving through the Senate in Lincoln after a Democratic filibuster stopped it last year. Stothert's ads instead linked him to 'radicals' who opposed sex-based restrictions on sports and public spaces, a common tactic that takes advantage of the progressive views of most Democratic political groups. 'We need to understand this as a victory against trans hate and discrimination — it's what otherwise moderate Mayor Jean Stothert made the entire end of her campaign about,' wrote Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt on X. 'Regular Americans don't react to or receive the call to trans panic. Enough. We are speaking to the future.' The average Democratic view of anti-trans politics is somewhere between Hunt and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both expect a backlash to the Republican focus on this. Hunt says the backlash is here; Newsom suggests that it's coming but that letting trans women play in women's sports is 'deeply unfair.' Newsom, whose podcast has worked through his confusion with how Democrats lost last year, has a lot of quiet company. According to the Pew Research Center's tracking, 45% of self-identified Democrats now believe that athletes should 'compete on teams that match their sex at birth,' up from 37% in 2022. That doesn't mean 45% of Democrats want legislation to mandate that, taking the choice away from schools and parents. But some of their members in conservative districts are being forced, by Republicans, to make a choice. They're choosing to vote against the position of every LGBTQ equality group, and the last Democratic president. You can expect Republicans to keep testing how many Democrats they can pull away on these votes. It's harder to predict how Democrats will react, as advocates worry that they can't count 100% on support from their party. For NPR, Sam Gringlas on how Georgia Democrats responded to this session's anti-trans legislation: Some aye votes, and a walkout. At the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, J. Miles Coleman the Omaha mayoral election, and Ewing's upset win.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Morrisey says student-athletes should be allowed to ‘take a stand' against transgender student injunction
CHARLESTON, (WBOY) — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey released a statement on Tuesday speaking against track and field coaches who he said are reportedly 'threatening to force girl track and field athletes to compete' amid an injunction that allows a transgender athlete to compete on a girl's team. In the statement, Morrisey alleged that some track and field coaches were threatening athletes with suspension if they chose not to compete against 'a boy.' A suspension could impact a student's eligibility to participate in the WVSSAC State Track Meet on May 23-24, which Morrisey says 'cannot stand.' Although Morrisey did not give specifics, he was likely referring to the case of B.P.J., a transgender student who was granted an injunction to compete on the girls team at Bridgeport despite being assigned male at birth. In his Tuesday statement, Morrisey called the injunction 'wrongly-decided.' Manchin slams West Virginia move to ban ranked-choice voting He asked that coaches 'let these brave athletes take a stand for what is right without unfair punishment,' and that officials 'keep a full set of results so that true winners of each event may be recognized when the Supreme Court rules in our favor.' Morrisey has asked that the case of West Virginia's 'Save Women's Sports Act' be taken to the Supreme Court. The law, which requires athletes to compete based on the sex they were assigned at birth, was deemed unconstitutional by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. Several student-athletes at Lincoln Middle School were suspended from competition in 2024 after protesting the Fourth Circuit Court ruling by choosing not to throw in the shot put field event. A federal court later granted an injunction to those athletes. Below is the guidance on student protests from the WVSSAC Rules and Regulations Handbook for 2024-2025: If a team, or student participating in an individual contest, leaves the playing area in protest and fails to complete the contest, the contest is forfeited and the school principal or designee and the violator may be required to appear before the WVSSAC Executive Director to indicate why additional action should not be taken. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Fox News
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Transgender swimmer wins 5 women's gold medals at championship meet in Texas
A transgender swimmer won five women's races at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship last weekend. The swimmer, 47-year-old Ana Caldas, dominated all five races the athlete competed in, taking gold in the women's age 45-49 category in five races, including the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, freestyle and the 100-yard individual medley. The controversy prompted backlash on social media. U.S. Masters Swimming's gender eligibility policy allows transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify, and they may also be recognized for accomplishments, granted certain conditions are met. One of those conditions requires that a "hormonal therapy appropriate for the female gender has been administered continuously and uninterrupted in a verifiable manner for a sufficient length of time, no less than one year, to minimize gender-related advantages in sport competitions" and subsequent proof of low enough testosterone levels. Fox News Digital has reached out to U.S. Masters Swimming for comment. In June 2023, Texas passed the Save Women's Sports Act, which bans trans athletes from competing in girls and women's sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificate. The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error. And just last week, the Texas Senate voted to pass the Texas Women's Privacy Act by a vote of 20-11. The bill ensures women are safe in their bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and domestic abuse shelters. President Donald Trump has had an executive order in place since Feb. 5 that requires publicly funded institutions to ban trans athletes from women's and girls sports. The topic of trans competitors in women's swimming specifically became a national controversy in 2022 when former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed for the school's men's swimming team, represented the school at the NCAA championships after transitioning to the women's category. UPenn and the NCAA are facing lawsuits over Thomas' participation in women's swimming, and the Trump administration has frozen funding to UPenn and declared it has violated Title IX. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
