More Than A Game
This year, SCOTUS will determine whether states can ban transgender students from youth sports — but the ACLU and women’s sports stars are teaming up in support of trans youth, their families, and their right to be themselves.
Fast Facts
of NCAA’s 500k athletes are transgender
states have banned transgender women and girls from playing school sports since 2020
This year, SCOTUS will determine whether states can ban transgender students from youth sports — but the ACLU and women’s sports stars are teaming up in support of trans youth, their families, and their right to be themselves.
SCOTUS’ Decision Could Deny Freedom and Safety to Transgender Youth
A Flurry of Laws That Target Few and Protect No One
Over the past five years, transgender youth and their families have endured legal attacks that limit their freedoms and their ability to be themselves, including bans that prevent them from playing school sports with their friends. These tactics are generally carried out by lawmakers for political advantage and affect some of the most marginalized individuals in the country's communities. Among these young people is Becky Pepper-Jackson. As the only openly transgender athlete in the state of West Virginia, she has become the focus of many attacks by politicians in the state.
In 2021, West Virginia passed a law categorically banning transgender girls like Becky from participating in all school sports, codifying trans people’s exclusion and unequal treatment. Though these laws target trans people — who make up just a fraction of participants in school sports programs — they affect all women and girls, by enabling any school official or adult to question and harass young women and girls who try to participate in school activities.
These Unconstitutional Attacks on Trans Rights Harm All Women — But We’re Fighting Back
We filed a lawsuit on behalf of Becky and her mother Heather challenging the ban as unlawful and unconstitutional under Title IX — the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in public schools — and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Now the legal battle has made its way all the way to the Supreme Court, whose decision could have far-reaching repercussions for trans and cis-gender women alike. The enforcement of those laws would open the door to gross scrutiny and harassment of all women, and set a precedent for state overreach.
This is about more than school sports — trans children deserve the same equality, dignity, and opportunities as their peers. Together with a roster of sports stars, the ACLU is advocating for the freedom of all children to be able to live their authentic lives.
This is More Than A Game.
Meet The Team
About Becky Pepper-Jackson
Becky is a high school sophomore in West Virginia, and she loves competing in track and field events with her friends.Four years ago, as she was preparing to begin middle school, West Virginia passed a law banning transgender girls from participating in school sports. So Becky and her mom sued, arguing that West Virginia's law violated both the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution's 14th Amendment and Title IX as applied to her.
LGBTQ Rights
What’s at Stake as the Supreme Court Takes Up Transgender Sports Bans
LGBTQ Rights
What’s at Stake as the Supreme Court Takes Up Transgender Sports Bans
As a result of an injunction issued by the lower courts, she has been able to participate in middle school cross-country and track and field for the past four years. But the states have pushed back against her case and brought the legal battle to the Supreme Court, which will hear whether banning her from girls sports at her school is unlawful and unconstitutional.
How You Can Help
LGBTQ Rights
Learn More About West Virginia v. B.P.J.
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Press ReleaseJan 2026
LGBTQ Rights
Aclu Launches “more Than A Game” Campaign In Support Of Transgender Youth Ahead Of Landmark Supreme Court Cases. Explore Press Release.ACLU Launches “More Than A Game” Campaign in Support of Transgender Youth Ahead of Landmark Supreme Court Cases
NEW YORK – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union announced the launch of More Than A Game, a national public awareness campaign in support of transgender youth and their families and rejecting political efforts to divide women and girls. Ahead of oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox — two cases challenging state laws that ban transgender girls from participating in school sports — More Than A Game responds with a powerful message of unity, fairness, and shared values featuring prominent public figures such as Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, Elliot Page, Brianna Turner, Naomi Watts, and a group of young people, including the lead plaintiff in one of the cases, among others. The More Than A Game campaign will launch with its first ad buys during the Unrivaled women’s basketball series on January 12 and will continue through in-person activations at Unrivaled playoff games in Miami in early March, featuring a 30-second ad with athletes, celebrities, artists, advocates and youth, both cisgender and transgender. “This week the Supreme Court is set to consider a case that will have major implications for women’s sports, civil rights and the future of our country,” said U.S. Women’s National Team legend and two-time World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe. “I am not going to be tricked into sacrificing hard fought civil rights protections because of anti-trans rhetoric. All women will be harmed if the Court rules against the young trans people at the center of these cases and I wanted to make unambiguously clear that I am on the side of equality and justice.” The campaign features exclusive merchandise designed by award-winning fashion designer and ACLU Artist Ambassador Willy Chavarria. The photos were captured by artist and fashion photographer Collier Schorr and videography captured by Sundance award-winning writer and director Alessandra Lacorazza. -
Press ReleaseDec 2025
LGBTQ Rights
Free Speech
And Tango Makes Three Should Return To The Shelf In Escambia County, Aclu Argues. Explore Press Release.And Tango Makes Three Should Return to the Shelf in Escambia County, ACLU Argues
ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida filed an amicus brief in Parnell v. School Board of Escambia County today, arguing that the First Amendment prevents the government from removing books from school libraries for ideological reasons. And Tango Makes Three, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, was removed from schools in Escambia County, Florida in 2023 because of its depiction of two male penguins raising a chick together. The book, based on real penguins at the Central Park Zoo, has won multiple literary awards and is widely beloved by parents and educators. Parnell and Richardson filed suit in 2023 alongside a student in Escambia County schools, arguing that the book’s removal violated the First Amendment. “Removing a book from the library explicitly because of its perceived ideological leanings is antithetical to the First Amendment,” said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “The pedagogical value of And Tango Makes Three has never been questioned by the school board, and similar books with heterosexual penguins remain on the shelf. The government has no business deciding which types of penguins, books, or relationships we can read about.” In response to the lawsuit, Escambia County attempted to advance the argument that books in school libraries are government speech and therefore exempt from First Amendment protections. In October, a federal judge in the Northern District of Florida sidestepped the government speech argument but nevertheless ruled in Escambia County’s favor, saying school libraries are not a public forum and therefore the First Amendment does not apply. “Students deserve to see families that look like theirs reflected in the books they read, and to have the opportunity to read about people (and penguins) that differ from themselves,” said Shana Knizhnik, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “This case is about more than one picture book: it’s about whether the government can control what we write, what we read, and what we share with one another. Students in Escambia County have every right to check out And Tango Makes Three or any other book they want without fear that the government will take it off the shelf for political reasons.” Plaintiffs filed an appeal with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in October. The ACLU’s amicus brief outlines why the government speech doctrine does not apply to library catalog curation and that the First Amendment applies to library book removals. The ACLU’s amicus brief can be read here. -
Press ReleaseDec 2025
LGBTQ Rights
Aclu Will Challenge Trump Administration’s Unconstitutional Effort To Ban Gender-affirming Care For Transgender Youth. Explore Press Release.ACLU Will Challenge Trump Administration’s Unconstitutional Effort to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth
WASHINGTON–Today, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the Trump administration’s latest proposals to implement two nationwide rules that would significantly shut down access in hospitals to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. The proposed measures follow the recent House passage of legislation aimed at criminalizing such care and represent an unprecedented federal intrusion into the private medical decisions of families and their doctors. The administration’s proposal seeks to block the provision of evidence-based, medically necessary care for transgender people under 18—care that is supported by every major medical association in the United States, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. “These gratuitous proposals are cruel and unconstitutional attacks on the rights of transgender youth and their families,” said Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “By attempting to strip away essential healthcare, the administration is not 'protecting' anyone; it is weaponizing the federal government to target a vulnerable population for political gain. Healthcare decisions belong to families and their doctors, not politicians. The latest proposals from the administration would force doctors to choose between their ethical obligations to their patients and the threat of losing federal funding. It would uproot families who have already fled state-level bans, leaving them with nowhere to turn for the care they need to survive and thrive. “We have seen the devastating consequences of similar policies at the state level, and we have fought them every step of the way. Let us be clear: If this administration moves forward with this attempt to enact a national ban on our medical care through coercion, the ACLU will see them in court. We will not rest until the rights of transgender youth to live authentically and access the care they need are fully protected.” -
Press ReleaseDec 2025
LGBTQ Rights
Aclu Condemns House Passage Of Bill To Criminalize Transgender Health Care. Explore Press Release.ACLU Condemns House Passage of Bill to Criminalize Transgender Health Care
WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives voted 216-211 to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that would criminalize the provision of gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18 and subject providers to hefty fines and up to 10 years in federal prison. If ultimately enacted, the bill would have immediate and devastating effects on the lives of transgender youth and their families across the country. These medical and mental health treatments, commonly referred to as gender-affirming medical care, are supported by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. At the same time that the legislation criminalizes care for transgender youth, it explicitly endorses non-consensual surgical procedures on intersex youth and infants. “Politicians should never prohibit parents from doing what is best for their transgender children,” said Mike Zamore, National Director of Policy & Government Affairs at the ACLU. “These families often spend years considering how best to support their children, only to have ill-equipped politicians interfere by attempting to criminalize the health care that they, their children, and their doctors believe is necessary to allow their children to thrive. But this bill also creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors. We strongly condemn the passage of this measure and urge members of the Senate to do everything in their power to prevent it from ever becoming law.” On Thursday, the House will also vote on a measure led by Rep. Dan Crenshaw that would prohibit Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming medical care for those under the age of 18. At the same time that this medically necessary health care would be prohibited for transgender youth, it explicitly endorses and allows coverage for surgical procedures on intersex youth and infants, which are frequently performed without the individual’s own consent.