9th District Court of Appeals upholds block on Idaho’s ban on transgender athletes

BOISE (The Idaho Statesman) — Transgender women and girls will be allowed to continue playing public school and college sports in Idaho after a federal court ruling Thursday.

A Boise State University student, Lindsay Hecox, represented by ACLU of Idaho, sued the state in 2020 after Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law that banned transgender women and girls from competing in sports. U.S. District Judge David Nye issued an injunction in August 2020 that blocked the law, which was the first of its kind in the United States.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction Thursday after the state appealed Nye’s decision.

Ninth Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote in her opinion that Nye ruled correctly because the act targeted only female students, subjected them to “an intrusive sex verification process” if anyone disputed their gender and banned them from sports. Idaho also failed to prove that the law improved gender quality, she wrote. Without an injunction, Hecox would experience “deeply personal, irreparable harms,” she added.

A “’desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest,’” Wardlaw said, quoting a prior court decision.

Little signed the bill, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, into law in March 2020 despite concerns about its legality. Then-Attorney General Lawrence Wasden at the time said it “raised serious constitutional questions” because of the potential invasion of privacy, Wardlaw noted.

“This is an important victory for common sense, equality and the rights of transgender youth under the law,” Chase Strangio, an ACLU deputy director, said in a news release Thursday. “Idaho’s ban and all others like it are designed to alienate and stigmatize transgender people, and we’ll never stop fighting until all transgender youth are given the equal playing field they deserve.”

The Idaho Statesman has reached out to Little and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office for comment.