Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 13-year-old trans athlete at Bridgeport Senior High School, finished in third place in the discus event and eighth in the shot put competition in the state championship meet last weekend, which is an "atrocity because you have a male playing sports with women," West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey told Newsmax Friday.
"It's just plain common sense and lawful to ensure that men are not playing sports with women," Morrisey said on "National Report."
"And now, you're seeing the fruits of it that this one male athlete has continually improved. And showing off the advantages that you have as a biological male. And that's unfortunate. So we're very hopeful we're going to get relief," said Morrisey.
"But in the meantime, these young women are getting hurt. They're getting displaced. When someone doesn't take first, second or third in something and a boy gets to be ahead of them in line, that's not right. That not only has immediate impact in terms of not getting a medal or displacement long term, it causes damage," he added.
A 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled in April 2024 that West Virginia's transgender sports ban violated Jackson's rights under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade.
West Virginia is waiting on the Supreme Court to weigh in on the ruling.
"We're very hopeful that the Supreme Court will provide some relief," Morrisey said.
"We're going to keep pushing on this," he added.
"And I've been urging people across the board to keep pushing and pressing, keep separate books because we think this is going to get overturned. And I want to make sure that I'm reflecting the rightful winners and the rightful place."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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