A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction on an Arizona law that bans biological male students from competing among female athletes.
Last year, Arizona passed the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” a bill designed to protect young female athletes and give them a fair opportunity to compete in sports. This move has outraged trans-activists who claim that the law is discriminatory.
U.S. Federal Judge Judge Jennifer G. Zipps has issued an injunction against the law, allowing a lawsuit to be filed against the state. The lawsuit, which is on behalf of two young boys who identify as transgender, claims that Arizona’s new law is a violation of Title IX.
In her injunction, Judge Zipps stated that there is no evidence that biological boys on puberty blockers would have an athletic advantage over biological girls. She also stated that there is no evidence of a safety risk for female athletes.
Judge Zipps went on to state that denying a trans-identifying student the opportunity to compete among the sex of their choice would cause “severe and irreparable harm.”
“Plaintiffs will also suffer severe and irreparable mental, physical, and emotional harm if the Act applies to them because they cannot play on boys’ sports teams,” the judge said. “Playing on a boys’ team would directly contradict Plaintiffs’ medical treatment for gender dysphoria and would be painful and humiliating.”
The defendant named in the lawsuit is the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne. Horne has stated that the decision will be appealed and assumed that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court in the near future.
“Title IX was aimed at giving girls equal opportunities for playing sports," Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said. "When a biological boy plays in a girls’ sport, it disadvantages the girls. There have been lots of news stories about girls who worked hard to excel at their sports, found they could not when they had to compete against biological boys and were devastated by that.”
This article first appeared on TPUSA.
