Across the country, a series of laws are being proposed that would restrict transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports. The proposals are part of a concerted effort by a number of conservative organizations to turn transgender rights into a wedge political issue. The laws are cruel and alarming — and would almost certainly be found unlawful, even at a very conservative Supreme Court.
That’s because less than a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII anti-discrimination law protects transgender employees from workplace discrimination. Under the logic of that precedent, the proposed restrictions on girls’ sports may well violate an analogous federal law, Title IX, that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools.