WV soccer player files motion in support of bill to protect women's sports

One West Virginia State University athlete is fighting for what she calls “women’s rights” by supporting a bill that would keep biological men from participating in women’s sports.

West Virginia State University soccer player Lainey Armistead filed a motion on Friday in support of the law after it was blocked from taking effect by a federal judge in July.

“I believe that protecting fairness in women’s sports is a women’s rights issue,” said Armistead in a press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF.) “This isn’t just about fair play for me: It’s about protecting fairness and safety for female athletes across West Virginia”

In addition to receiving guidance from ADF, Armistead is also being represented by attorney Brandon Steele, a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and supporter of the legislation.

The law bars transgender individuals from participating in sports teams dedicated to the gender opposite their biological sex, a move that advocates believe is necessary to protect the tenets of fair competition and physical safety for all. 

HB 3293 mandates that participants in middle, high school, and collegiate sports compete among the sex that matches their birth certificate. The bill specifically protects female athletes stating that female-designated sports teams, “shall not be open to students of the male sex.” 

[RELATED: Judge halts Trump-backed transgender student athlete law in Idaho]

While defending the expansion of the bill to collegiate sports, Governor Justice West Virginia Governor Jim Justice acknowledged that the bill could cause the NCAA to place sanctions on the state.

“The addition of the college aspect could cause some ramifications,” Justice said. “Even at the college level, I support the bill there as well,” Justice said. “The NCAA has moved to a more political-correct and liberal body and they could very well penalize us in West Virginia.”

Heather Jackson and her daughter Becky Pepper-Jackson filed a lawsuit against the law in May. The ACLU, Lambda Legal, and law firm Cooley LLP announced it on their behalf. 

Becky Pepper-Jackson told The Intelligencer that the law is harmful to the transgender youth community.

“I know how hurtful a law like this is to all kids like me who just want to play sports with their classmates, and I’m doing this for them. Trans kids deserve better,” Pepper-Jackson said.

[RELATED: NCAA signals that it may pull championships from states that protect women’s sports]

Lainey Armistead feels differently.

”As one who grew up in a house full of brothers who played soccer and a dad who coached soccer, Armistead is well-acquainted with the physical differences that give males an athletic performance advantage,” the motion states. “She has seen that males typically have greater strength, speed, and size that gives them an undeniable advantage in soccer.”

Research published under the British Journal of Sports Medicine states that even after having undergone hormone therapy for two years, biological men retain a 12% advantage in speed, 10% advantage in pushups, and 6% advantage in sit-ups. Researchers also state that their findings, “may underestimate the advantage in strength that trans women have over cis women … because trans women will have a higher power output than cis women when performing an equivalent number of push-ups.”

Campus Reform reached out to ADF and WVSU, but did not receive a response.