WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC) filed a brief in the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti. This case asks whether the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which generally requires the equal treatment of boys and girls, outlaws Tennessee’s law that forbids sex-trait modification (STM) procedures, often misnamed “gender-affirming care.” IWLC’s brief explains that Tennessee’s law treats boys and girls equally, and to the extent it doesn’t treat boys and girls identically, it’s only because boys and girls are not identical. 

IWLC explains that if the Court were to require that the government treat boys and girls identically, it would effectively end women’s sports. IWLC writes:

  • What matters for sex discrimination purposes is whether the sexes are treated equally, not whether they are treated identically.  
  • Sports, locker rooms, dormitories, bathrooms, prisons, and countless other institutions have long separated men and women based on their innate biological differences. So long as these separate spaces are of equal quality, there is no discrimination.  
  • The government’s upside-down interpretation of equal protection would destroy that fundamental promise, open the doors to men regaining the very monopoly on athletics that Title IX eradicated, and put constitutional handcuffs on any governmental entity that tries to provide separate athletic opportunities to women.
  • There is no serious question that men have significant biological advantages over women in most athletics—an advantage some measure at 10-50% depending on the sport.  
  • This male-female athletic gap is not the result of unequal opportunity, socialization, or lack of funding for women’s sports. Rather, the difference is the result of biology. 
  • Katie Ledecky is one of the greatest female athletes in the world—the fastest female swimmer in recorded history and the most accomplished female swimmer in Olympic history. Yet her recent world record in her best event—the 800-meter freestyle—would qualify her as only No. 26 among the best American 15- to 16-year-old boys.

IWLC has been at the forefront of protecting women’s rights, including the right to single-sex spaces and sports. IWLC and Independent Women’s Forum have produced a first-of-its-kind report entitled, “Competition Report: Title IX, Male-Bodied Athletes, and the Threat To Women’s Sports,” to help athletic associations, policymakers, and courts understand the growing threat to women’s sports and female athletes. 

IWLC filed a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration for its illegal Title IX rewrite, and has also filed amicus briefs in the Fifth, Sixth, and Tenth Circuit of Appeals, arguing that the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rewrite strips women and girls of their rights to equal athletic opportunity and privacy.

Direct all press inquiries to [email protected]. 

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Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities.

www.iwlc.org

Independent Women’s Law Center advocates for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and the continued legal relevance of biological sex.