A nonprofit law firm is urging California school districts to weigh in on two upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases that could determine whether schools may continue to maintain separate athletic teams for biological girls.
Advocates for Faith & Freedom, based in Murrieta, has invited districts that previously adopted Title IX resolutions supporting girls’ sports to join an amicus brief in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., both centered on fairness in female athletics. The brief is due Sept. 18.
Several districts, including Chino Valley Unified and John Adams Charter School in Northern California, have already agreed to sign on, with others expected to make decisions this week.
The Chino Valley Unified School District board met in closed session Sept. 8 to consider whether to join an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., cases that address whether schools may maintain separate athletic teams for biological girls under Title IX.
Other districts that have passed resolutions on the issue include Temecula Valley, Murrieta Valley, Desert Sands, Capistrano Unified, and Perris Union High School District.
Redlands Unified trustee Candy Olson said she has “formally and urgently requested our School Board President immediately convene a special emergency meeting to deliberate and vote on joining an amicus brief.” Olson added, “As a former athlete, a mother of five athletic children, and as an individual school board trustee of Redlands Unified, I will relentlessly and unwaveringly stand for our girls.”
In Temecula Valley Unified, trustee Jennifer Wiersma said she will request that Board President Melinda Anderson schedule a special meeting by Sept. 17 to consider joining. “After witnessing the student protest at James L. Day Middle School regarding a lack of privacy in the locker rooms, this board has a moral obligation to weigh in on protecting our biological girls and boys in their sports and spaces,” Wiersma said.
The push comes just days after students staged walkouts in Temecula over locker room privacy, an issue that has fueled heated debates across several Southern California school districts.
“TVUSD has heard the voice of our children, and if they are going to lack the efforts of handling this prior, the facts show that the kids are going to stand up. This is a generation of strength and integrity, and if they don’t choose the right side for the future, they will be met with pushback,” said Jenee Segura-Wooll, TVUSD parent of a student who helped to organize the James L. Day Middle School.
Advocates for Faith & Freedom has asked interested boards to move quickly, noting that the filing deadline is less than a week away.
