CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s ban on transgender athletes competing in feminine faculty sports activities is constitutional and might stay in place, a federal decide dominated Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union and its West Virginia chapter filed the lawsuit in 2021 on behalf of an 11-year-old transgender lady who hoped to compete in center faculty cross-country in Harrison County. The lawsuit named the state and Harrison County boards of schooling and their superintendents as defendants.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey applauded Thursday’s choice by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin.

“This is not only about simple biology, but fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple,” the legal professional normal stated. “Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious and we must safeguard that future.”

The ACLU of West Virginia stated Thursday that it’s reviewing the choice with co-counsel to find out subsequent steps. The ban applies to center and excessive faculties, in addition to schools.

Transgender athletes’ capability to compete in sports activities is the topic of a continuing national debate. More than a dozen states have handed legal guidelines banning or proscribing transgender participation in sports activities based mostly on the premise it offers them an unfair aggressive benefit — regardless of the final lack of an issue to handle.

A 2017 research by the Williams Institute on the UCLA regulation faculty used state-level, population-based surveys to estimate that West Virginia had the very best proportion (1.04%) of residents ages 13 to 17 amongst all states who recognized as transgender. That equated to about 1,150 teenagers.

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, which oversees scholastic sports activities, stated in 2021, when the lawsuit was filed, that it had not acquired any complaints about transgender athletes on women groups.