A federal judge from the Eastern District of Virginia has granted a preliminary injunction, finding that a local school board in Virginia may have violated both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution when it blocked a transgender middle school athlete from trying out for the sports team for which the athlete identified with on the basis of gender.
Importantly, “Janie Doe” was issued a birth certificate between seven-years-old and eight-years-old in which she was declared female. Specifically, Doe had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and had been undergoing ongoing treatment for years, with puberty blockers, ensuring she would not experience male puberty.
Aged 11 at the time of the lawsuit and a middle schooler at a Hanover County public school, Doe will now be permitted to try out for the girls’ tennis team for the 2024-25 year.
The Hanover County School Board relied on the 2023 Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) model policies in preventing Doe from trying out.
“Janie has established that the Board excluded her, on the basis of sex, from participating in an education program when it denied her application to try out for (and if selected, to participate on) her school’s girls’ tennis team,” wrote the judge.
Hanover County School Board’s actions “contravene the strong public interest in educational institutions being free of discrimination of all kinds,” the court’s opinion continued, “including on the basis of gender identity.”
Elaborating on the ruling, the court noted that if the board were to continue to exclude Doe from the team she previously qualified for, Doe would “face a litany of harms ranging from medical regression, social isolation and stigma, financial and logistical burdens, and the dignitary harms of either ‘outing’ her as transgender or communicating that transgender students are not welcomed or encouraged to participate in school athletics at all.”
ACLU Weighs In
“This ruling should make every school board – not just Hanover – think twice before using VDOE’s model policies to justify discrimination against its students,” said ACLU of Virginia Senior Transgender Rights Attorney Wyatt Rolla, who helped represent Doe.
Transgender athlete bans have sparked lawsuits in many of the 25 states that have enacted them, according to ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Eden Heilman.
“This order is a reminder to school boards that protecting transgender young people is part of protecting girls’ sports,” Heilman said. “And it’s a flashing red light to any Virginia school board that might be tempted to think that VDOE’s anti-trans model policies give it license to abuse its power. As the court reminded Hanover County School Board in its ruling, no state policies can shield Virginia schools from accountability for violating federal law.”
As additional support, Heilman pointed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recent decision in B.P.J v. West Virginia State Board of Education, a case with what the judge in the instant case called a “strikingly similar” fact pattern. That court foundWest Virginia violated Title IX by barring a transgender middle schooler from participating on a team in which she aligned with.
“Federal law trumps state law, not vice versa,” wrote the Fourth Circuit in that case, “and those who violate federal law cannot defend on the grounds that they were simply following state law.”
The judge in the instant case addressed both the alleged violations of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution in the instant opinion.
“With respect to her Title IX claim, Janie has demonstrated a likelihood of showing that
she was excluded from participation in girls’ tennis on the basis of sex and that she was harmed as a result,” the judge wrote. “With respect to her equal protection claim, Janie has demonstrated a likelihood of showing that the challenged policy fails intermediate scrutiny because it is not substantially related to the important governmental interest of ensuring ‘fairness in competition for all participants.’”
