Republican-led Arizona Legislature Calls on SCOTUS to Protect Women, Girls from Biological Males Intruding in on Female-only Sports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                              

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Republican-led Arizona Legislature Calls on SCOTUS to Protect Women, Girls from Biological Males Intruding in on Female-only Sports

PHOENIX, ARIZONA— One month after a Ninth Circuit panel of judges out of San Francisco blocked an Arizona law banning biological males from participating in female-only sports competitions, the Republican-led Arizona Legislature is now calling on the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to take action to protect women and girls from this dangerous intrusion.

In 2022, the Save Women's Sports Act was signed into law to create an even playing field for women and girls at Arizona's schools, colleges, and universities in response to the growing number of cases nationwide of biological males robbing females of athletic opportunities and endangering the physical well-being of women and girls in sports competitions. As a result, in 2023, a progressive activist organization sued the state on behalf of two boys taking puberty blockers and seeking to play on their schools' sports teams specifically designated for girls. Because Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes refused to safeguard the law in court, Senate President Warren Petersen intervened in the lawsuit, defending the rights of Arizona's women and girls, and a legal battle ensued. Most recently, in September 2024, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with the boys and upheld an injunction against the law.

President Petersen joined House Speaker Ben Toma and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne today in filing a cert petition asking SCOTUS to weigh-in on the case, as more than two dozen other states have effectively implemented similar laws and regulations protecting the integrity of female sports competitions.

While the plaintiffs argue boys who are taking puberty blockers won't have a competitive advantage against young girls, science dictates otherwise. According to sports medicine experts, before puberty even begins, boys have physiological advantages over girls, including greater size, significantly less fat, higher lean tissue, and higher aerobic power, resulting in competitive advantages before, during, and after puberty.

"We cannot remain silent and allow these wrongs against women and girls to continue. We must stand up and fight to protect our daughters, nieces, sisters, and granddaughters from bigger and stronger males who are claiming their identities, their private spaces, their sports, and are putting their safety at risk," said President Petersen. "What's even more disheartening is that we have a Democratic Governor and Attorney General that claim to support women, but they refuse to keep boys out of girls' sports. Republicans stand in solidarity to defend women and girls, and I'm confident the U.S. Supreme Court will make it clear- Arizona's Save Women's Sports Act should be enforced."

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For more information, contact:

Kim Quintero

Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

kquintero@azleg.gov