Federal appeals court upholds block of Idaho transgender athletes law

By ANDREW DeMILLO
Associated Press

A federal appeals court has upheld a decision blocking Idaho’s first-in-the-nation ban on transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge’s preliminary injunction against the 2020 law. The measure would prohibit transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. The court said the ban discriminates not just against transgender women but all women, citing a provision that allows anyone to dispute the sex of a female student athlete. The ruling follows a historic wave of new state laws restricting the rights of transgender people, especially trans youth.