West Virginia to appeal ruling against transgender athlete ban to Supreme Court

April 24 (UPI) -- West Virginia plans to appeal a recent ruling against the state's transgender athlete ban to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state attorney general announced Wednesday.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is running for governor of West Virginia, told reporters Wednesday at the state Capitol in Charleston that he will ask the high court to consider BPJ vs. West Virginia State Board of Education after it declined to take the case last year.

"We will be filing, over the next month, and we're going to make sure we time our filing to maximize the chance this case is going to be heard, and most importantly, that we will win," Morrisey said.

"This is a significant case to bring to the Supreme Court, and it will potentially set precedent for the entire country."

Last week, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked West Virginia's 2021 ban on transgender students participating on sports teams that match their gender identity, because it violates federal law.

Appeals Judge Toby Heytens said the ban violated Title IX, after the American Civil Liberties Union brought the suit on behalf of eighth-grade trans teen Becky Pepper-Jackson.

"West Virginia's transgender sports ban's sole purpose -- and its sole effect -- is to prevent transgender girls from playing on girls teams," Heytens wrote in his opinion on April 16. "Offering BPJ a 'choice' between not participating in sports and participating only on boys teams is no real choice at all."

"Somehow, defying logic, the 4th Circuit majority still concluded that this law was targeted at transgender students. They are wrong," Morrisey responded.

West Virginia became the seventh state in 2021 to pass a law, banning transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams under the Save Women's Sports Act. It requires public schools and colleges to base sports participation on biological sex rather than gender identity. There are currently 24 states that have similar laws in place.

Fairness West Virginia said Wednesday that Morrisey's statements about transgender youth create a hostile environment, allowing for more bullying and discrimination.

"Transgender women are women, period," said Jack Jarvis, communications director for Fairness in West Virginia. "If you want to support women, you need to support all women."