West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told Newsmax on Monday that the Supreme Court is set to decide the legality of his state's prohibition on male-born athletes competing against biological women and girls.
"As many people watching know, this has been an issue that's been lingering for a number of years," Morrisey said on "National Report." "In West Virginia's case, the Legislature passed legislation that ensures that women are protected from men. Basically, that men are not playing sports with women."
Morrisey added, "We thought that was a very commonsense law and that it reflected the biological differences between men and women. Then we went through the legal process, and this has been stuck in the courts for the last four years.
"The teams that are created in West Virginia rely on assignment of sex at birth," he continued. "We think that's a very reasonable decision, and it's consistent with Title IX, and it's consistent with the Equal Protection Law. It was drafted that way.
"So we know that the Supreme Court has got an opportunity to put an end to this question about men and women's sports finally after many, many years, and they're going to follow on the precedent that's been created through Skrmetti."
Decided on June 18, the Supreme Court's decision in the Skrmetti case, named for Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, upheld a state's law banning gender-change treatments for minors, ruling that it did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
Joshua Block, the ACLU attorney representing two athletes on the opposing side of the case, said in a statement that "the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play."
Morrisey said in response, "I think all they would have to do is go look at the district court analysis that came out about the differences between men and women to know how foolish those statements are.
"Here we are in West Virginia, we have a male that's participating in track and field and starting to dominate in that sport. But yet, if you go back to the district court analysis, they were very clear there are big differences between men and women in terms of strength, in terms of speed, in terms of bone mass.
"What we're trying to do is to build on all the success of Title IX. Women have used this to come together to work, to develop leadership skills, and to have a safe place in sports. This is about protecting safety, and it's also ensuring that all of those young female athletes who are being displaced because the male is defeating them, that they're not going to get displaced anymore."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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