Supreme Court asked to wrestle with Washington state policies for transgender athletes

The high court’s recent ruling on anti-transgender sports bans is being tested by an emergency appeal seeking to also bar states from allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity.WASHINGTON (CN) — A Washington state teenager and her mother asked the Supreme Court to take emergency action on Tuesday to prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports.The teen, identified as K.M.K., claimed that the state’s high school athletics organization violated federal civil rights law by allowing a transgender athlete to participate in girls’ wrestling matches. And her mother, Stephanie Brown, said the association obstructed her parental rights by interfering with decisions about her daughter’s health and safety.The pair asked the Supreme Court to order Washington state to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports and allow Brown to opt her daughter out of matches with transgender athletes without penalty.“Absent an injunction, K.M.K. will be forced to miss the girls’ wrestling season that begins in November, losing the equal opportunity that Title IX guarantees,” the teen and her mother wrote. “And Brown will continue to be deprived of her parental rights. The public interest favors preserving K.M.K.’s and Brown’s rights, and defendants can easily return to the sex-based sports system that they long maintained and that state law explicitly allows.”Three months ago, the high court upheld Republican state bans against transgender girls participating in girls’ sports under Title IX and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution in West Virginia v. B.P.J.The court’s ruling did not require states to bar transgender students from athletics in Democratic strongholds like Washington state. But K.M.K.’s application asked the justices to do so on the emergency docket.K.M.K. and Brown are represented by the Alliance for Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group that worked as co-counsel for the Republican states in West Virginia v. B.P.J.Brown’s parental rights request draws on a 2025 ruling from the Supreme Court. In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the conservative majority ruled Maryland parents were entitled to opt their children out of school instruction involving LGBTQ-inclusive books.K.M.K. and Brown sued the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Puyallup School District in June. The teen claimed she was assaulted by a transgender wrestler while competing in a 2025 match.State prosecutors declined to charge the athlete, but the district has a pending Title IX investigation into the incident. The U.S. Department of Education also opened an investigation into whether the district violated federal law by allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports.Brown asked the district and WIAA to ensure that K.M.K. would not have to compete against transgender athletes in the future. The district said it could not notify Brown before K.M.K. competes with any transgender athlete because student gender identity information is confidential.The district said K.M.K. could sit out of matches if paired against a transgender athlete, but it would not stop WIAA from imposing penalties for not participating.WIAA defended its policies under the state’s law on transgender athletes. However, the organization declined to comment further on the litigation.“The WIAA remains committed to following Washington state law which permits student-athletes to participate in sports consistent with the gender with which they identify,” a spokesperson for WIAA said in a statement. “If state law changes in the future, the WIAA holds the authority to revise policies as necessary to remain in compliance with state law.”A lower court rejected K.M.K.’s Title IX claims, finding there was a factual question whether transgender athletes create a safety risk or competitive disadvantage for females. The court also denied Brown’s parental claim, refusing to direct the administration of extracurricular student sports activities.The Ninth Circuit declined to put the ruling on hold pending appeal.The Supreme Court asked the sports association and school district to respond to the emergency application by Oct. 13.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads