The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of red states, allowing them to ban transgender biological males from competing in girls' sports.
The court's 6-3 decision was made in two cases involving West Virginia and Idaho's laws banning biological males from girls' sports, with the justices holding that these laws do not violate the Constitution's equal protection clause or Title IX.
According to the majority opinion, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, schools can base eligibility for women and girls' sports teams on biological sex, as Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause allow.
Justice Kavanaugh emphasized the importance of Title IX in promoting equal opportunity for female student-athletes, stating that the landmark law has facilitated the growth of women's and girls' sports over the past 54 years.
However, Justice Clarence Thomas slammed the mental illness of "gender dysphoria" in a concurring opinion, arguing that it does not resemble the immutable characteristics on which the court's precedents have applied heightened scrutiny.
Thomas also stated that men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or girls, even if they believe they are, and that sex is an immutable "biological" characteristic that is binary and corresponds to adults and children of each sex.
Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor wrote dissenting opinions, with Jackson arguing that the court was wrong to hold that Title IX protects against discrimination solely on the basis of "biological sex," and that it should have assumed that Title IX's definition of "sex" is more capacious.
The ruling is expected to impact up to 27 states with similar laws on the books, and has significant implications for the rights of transgender athletes in the US.
