West Virginia trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson wins girls’ state title ahead of SCOTUS ruling

CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA: Becky Pepper-Jackson won a girls’ state track and field championship in West Virginia this week while the Supreme Court is still weighing whether the state can legally block transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

The Bridgeport High School sophomore took first place in the Class AAA shot put event with a personal-best throw of 38 feet, 11.75 inches at the state meet. The runner-up, John Marshall’s Paislee Babiczuk, finished more than two feet behind at 36 feet, 11 inches.

The victory placed Pepper-Jackson back at the center of one of the country’s most closely watched Title IX fights, which has been winding through the courts since 2021.

Becky Pepper-Jackson claims state track championship

The legal battle began after West Virginia passed a law banning biological males from competing in girls’ sports. Pepper-Jackson challenged the law in court and won the ability to continue competing in girls’ athletics throughout high school while the case moved forward.

The Supreme Court later agreed to hear the dispute, with attorneys for the ACLU delivering oral arguments before the justices on January 13. A ruling is not expected until June, meaning Pepper-Jackson remained eligible to compete throughout the spring season.

Now, Pepper-Jackson has added a state championship to the resume.

The athlete’s lawyers at the ACLU have argued that transgender athletes do not automatically hold a competitive advantage over biological females.

During oral arguments, ACLU attorney Joshua Block said that “if the evidence shows there are no relevant physiological differences between BPJ and other girls, then there's no basis to exclude her.”

West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, who is helping defend the state law, pushed back in a letter sent to the Supreme Court on May 26. Referring to the athlete as BPJ, McCuskey pointed to this season’s results.

“As a high school sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is not finishing 'near the back of the pack' but is instead defeating every, or nearly every, female in the state in these events. I would appreciate it if you could circulate this message to the members of the court,” McCuskey wrote.

Legal battle over trans athlete fairness intensifies

Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, which is helping represent the legal defense against Pepper-Jackson’s lawsuit, also argued that the state championship result reinforces their case.

“The developments from the state meet this past weekend just underscore the fact that no amount of testosterone suppression or intervention can undo the very real differences that males have over women,” ADF attorney Suzanne Beecher told Fox News. “It really cuts against the ACLU's argument.”

Beecher added that even if the Supreme Court ultimately sides with West Virginia, the effects of the injunction allowing Pepper-Jackson to compete have already been felt by other athletes.

“What has already happened by putting West Virginia's law on hold as it applies to West Virginia in the BPJ case is that girls have already been harmed,” Beecher added. “When you ignore differences between boys and girls, and between males and females, a lot of the harm falls on girls.”

The Supreme Court has not yet issued its decision, though the court appears poised to rule in West Virginia’s favor when the opinion is released later this year.