By Lacie Pierson, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Department of Justice is targeting West Virginia for prohibiting transgender girls and women from participating in public school sports.
Saying the law “hinders equal athletic opportunities for girls by creating an additional hurdle for participation,” Aria Vaughan, a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, said the new law also discriminates against West Virginia student-athletes on the basis of sex and gender identification, in the statement filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia.
“The State cannot point to any valid evidence that allowing transgender girls to participate on girls’ sports teams endangers girls’ athletic opportunities,” Vaughan said. “Instead, the State legislated based on misconceptions and overbroad assumptions about transgender girls. It is illogical for the State to believe it can protect girls’ athletic opportunities by barring girls from playing sports. The harm to B.P.J. is real and it will be lasting.” …
