Utah Families Sue Over Trans-Exclusionary Sports Law
NCLR press release. “This law devastated me. I just want to play on a team like any other kid.”“It feels like an attack on our family,” added her mother, Debbie Roe. “Parents want their kids to be happy and to be surrounded by people who love and nurture them.
This law does the opposite — it tells my daughter that she doesn’t belong and that she is unworthy of having the same opportunities as other students at her school.”“As parents, we want our children to be healthy and happy,” said Jean Noe, mother of Jane Noe. “My husband and I love Utah, and our children have benefited from living here.
This law changes all of that and we are having serious conversations, for the first time, about whether we can stay here. It is deeply unsettling that the state would want to strip our child of the love and support she has received from her teammates, coaches, and entire sports community.”“By singling out transgender girls for disfavored treatment, the Ban violates multiple provisions of the Utah Constitution,” the suit contends. “The law erroneously uses a student’s transgender status as a proxy for athletic ability and thus is overbroad, unjustifiably banning all transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams regardless of their individual circumstances or the sport in which they want to compete.”Further, the suit says, the law “stigmatizes and discriminates against Plaintiffs because they are transgender girls, singles them out for less favorable treatment than other girls, denies them equal educational opportunities, and subjects them to serious adverse effects on their physical and mental health.” It “is based on unfounded stereotypes, fears, and misconceptions about girls who are transgender,” the suit continues. “It is not.
