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Super Bowl-winning head coach Barry Switzer and 31 Olympic athletes signed an amicus brief in support of the legal defense to “save women’s sports” ahead of two upcoming Supreme Court cases on trans athletes. Among the signatories are also 12 Olympic medalists, including eight gold medalists.
Switzer, women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova, Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh-Jennings, Summer Sanders, Donna de Varona, Nancy Hogshead, Laura Wilkinson, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Rhi Jeffrey, and former NFL quarterback Steve Stenstrom are among the major sports figures who signed the brief.
The signatories also include several athletes who have had to compete against biological trans male athletes, including fencer Stephanie Turner, former NCAA volleyball player Macy Petty, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Monika Burzynska and US Masters swimmers Wendy Enderle, Cissy Cochran and Angie Griffin.
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer gives instructions during a game against the Arizona Cardinals at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. The Cowboys won 24-6 on November 9, 1997. (Stephen Dunn/All Sports)
The document has a total of 124 signatures, which also include the relatives of the athletes who signed.
The brief argues that state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that protect women’s sports from trans athletes also protect women and girls from physical and mental harm.
“By ruling in favor of the West Virginia and Idaho laws, this Court can reaffirm that women should not lose equal opportunities to compete in sports on equal terms. By affirming the right of states to support women and girls, this Court can ensure that women’s basic right to be treated equally remains the legal standard in the United States,” the brief reads.
“It is difficult to express the pain, humiliation, frustration and shame that women experience when they are forced to compete against men in sport. It is public shame and suffering, an exclusion from women’s own category, a place that belongs exclusively to them… The shame does not disappear once the competition is over. It remains forever a memory of sanctioned public ridicule… The psychological, tangible, long-term damage suffered by women forced to compete against men is irreversible.”
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On the other hand, 130 congressional Democrats signed an amicus curiae brief supporting the trans athletes plaintiffs in the two cases.
The coalition, which includes nine senators and 121 House members, is led by Congressional Equality Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
The list of signatories includes prominent figures from the party’s left wing, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The list also includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The list does not include prominent moderate Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
What to know about the two cases
The Little vs. Hecox and West Virginia vs. BPJ were initially legal victories that allowed biological men to circumvent their state’s laws to compete against women. But now that the cases will be heard by the Supreme Court, a decision could have a wide-ranging impact on the legality of trans athletes in women’s sports in the future.
The cases are scheduled for oral arguments on January 13 in Washington, DC.
The lawsuit of Little v. Hecox was initially introduced by trans athlete Lindsay Hecox in 2020, when the athlete wanted to join the women’s cross-country team at Boise State and was blocked by a state law preventing trans athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Hecox was joined by an unnamed biological student, Jane Doe, who was concerned about the possibility of being subjected to the sexual dispute verification process. The challenge was successful when a federal judge blocked the Idaho state law.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023, before the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case. Hecox then asked the court last month to drop the challenge, claiming the athlete “has therefore decided to permanently retire and refrain from playing any women’s sport at BSU or in Idaho.”
Hecox tried to have the case dismissed in September after the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case, but U.S. District Judge David Nye, appointed by the president donald trump In 2017, he denied Hecox’s motion to dismiss the case.
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The lawsuit between West Virginia and BPJ was filed against the state of West Virginia by trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson, who was initially granted a preliminary injunction allowing the athlete to participate on the school’s sports teams. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violated Title IX and the equal protection clause. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the state’s appeal.
In a response brief, the athlete’s mother, Heather Jackson, argued West Virginia Law banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports violates Title IX.
However, Title IX does not explicitly protect the right of biologically male transgender people to identify as female. The Trump administration and the West Virginia state government do not interpret Title IX to protect that right.
