The Supreme Court heard oral argument recently on multiple state statutes addressing the participation of transgender-identified male athletes in girls sports. What was once settled policy has become a national reckoning on identity, privacy, fairness, civil rights, and what it means to be a girl. 

In the pair of cases from West Virginia and Idaho, the court is being asked whether states may limit participation in girls and women’s sports teams to females, or whether doing so violates Title IX of federal civil rights law. 

These cases concern far more than team rosters. Title IX governs the entire educational environment, from classrooms and scholarships to housing, athletics, and the most intimate spaces on school grounds. It protects girls not only where they compete, but also in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. 

The court must decide whether Title IX will continue to protect girls sports and spaces as it was written, or whether males and females will be treated as legally interchangeable. The integrity of women’s sports, privacy, and dignity depends on the court choosing the former. 

During oral argument this week, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination requires........

© The Daily Signal