Idaho’s Transgender Sports Ban Faces A Major Legal Hurdle

Left: Madison Kenyon, who is cisgender, runs track and cross-country at Idaho State University. She supports Idaho’s transgender sports ban. Right: Lindsay Hecox is transgender and hopes to make the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University.

Alliance Defending Freedom; Joshua Roper/ACLU

Do transgender women and girls have a constitutional right to play on women’s sports teams? That question will be argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.

The landmark case stems from an Idaho law passed last year — the nation’s first transgender sports ban.

For plaintiff Lindsay Hecox, a student at Boise State University, the answer to that question is clear. She is transgender, and Idaho’s law, if upheld, would prohibit her from competing on women’s teams.