Five West Virginia middle school female athletes are being allowed to compete once again after a judge ruled on their behalf. They had been banned from participating in a track and field meet because they protested the involvement of a trans athlete in the girls' championship.
Judge Thomas A. Bedell issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Harris Board of Education and Lincoln Middle School from enforcing WVSSAC Handbook rules that penalized the students for refusing to compete against 13-year-old transgender athlete Becky Pepper Jackson, WDTV reports.
Sabrina Shriver of Lincoln Middle School and four of her teammates traveled to Clarksburg, WV to participate in the 2024 Harrison County Middle School Championship on April 18th.
Becky Pepper Jackson of Bridgeport Middle School was set to participate in the girl's shotput competition along with Shriver and her teammates.
As CBN News has reported, Jackson has been at the center of a fight to allow transgender athletes to compete on the team they identify with.
Jackson filed a lawsuit in 2021 to stop West Virginia's "Save Women's Sports Act" which would have ensured equal opportunities for women and girls in sports. But as of April, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the bill saying it violates the rights of transgender students, WBOY reported.
The ruling allowed Jackson to compete in the championship, but Shriver and her four teammates decided to protest.
"We got in the circle. I walked in the circle and then walked out past the line to scratch. Some girls went in and acted like they were going to throw and just walked out before they threw. There was one girl who did throw just to get one mark in and then she scratched her rest," Shriver told WDTV.
The middle school athletes were suspended from the following competition according to the Rules and Regulations of the WVSSAC Handbook.
Shriver's mother, Deborah, and three of the girls' parents decided to sue the Harrison County Board Of Education over the suspension.
Bedell ordered that the district's decision be temporarily halted while the lawsuit is litigated.
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During the injunction hearing, the school board argued it did not target the female athletes but only enforced rules that dictated if a student removes themselves from a meet they can't compete in the following competition.
"The students were permitted to engage in their selected form of protest without issue," the board said in a statement last week. "In fact, the coaches and principal were aware of the likelihood of the protests and permitted the students to remain on the roster for their events."
"Those students, like all of the other students on the team, however, were subject to a team rule that any player who scratches in an event cannot participate in that event at the next track meet. This neutral, school-specific rule was in place before the students' protests and has nothing to do with those protests in any way," it continued.
Two of the students claimed they were never made aware of those rules and were given additional drills as punishment at the following practice, WBOY reports.
Meanwhile, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the female athletes, issued a statement applauding the ruling.
"I want to say to these students and their parents: I have your backs," Morrisey said in a press release. "You saw unfairness and you expressed your disappointment and sacrificed your personal performances in a sport that you love; exercised your constitutionally protected freedom of speech and expression."
"These girls didn't disrupt anything when they protested. They should be commended, not punished," he added. "They need not to be silent. They have won by having their voices heard."
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