AP

Judge: Transgender girl can rejoin school’s softball team

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Indianapolis Public Schools to allow a 10-year-old transgender girl to rejoin her school’s all-girls softball team while a lawsuit continues against a state law that bans transgender females from competing in girls school sports.

U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson in Indianapolis issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday on behalf of the girl, finding that she “has established that she has a strong likelihood of succeeding on the merits” of her claim.

“She has also established that she would suffer irreparable harm for which there is no adequate legal remedy,” Magnus-Stinson wrote in her order of the girl, who will be a fifth-grader when classes resume in August.

Indianapolis Public School had told the girl’s mother earlier this year that her daughter would no longer be able to play on the girls’ softball team because of the new law, the judge added.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the lawsuit on behalf of the girl in hopes of blocking the law. The suit was filed in May, minutes after Republican state lawmakers voted to override Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of the legislation, and alleges that preventing the girl from rejoining her team because she is transgender is violation of Title IX and the U.S. Constitution.

That lawsuit continues against the law, which took effect on July 1 and which opponents have argued is a bigoted response to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Republican sponsors of the bill maintain it is needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarships but have pointed to no instances in Indiana of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes.

ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, Ken Falk, said Tuesday in a statement that the group is pleased that the judge decided that the girl should “be allowed to play on her school’s softball team.”

“When misinformation about biology and gender is used to bar transgender girls from school sports it amounts to the same form of sex discrimination that has long been prohibited under Title IX, a law that protects all students – including trans people – on the basis of sex,” Falk said.

Magnus-Stinson wrote in her order that Indianapolis Public Schools has taken “no position regarding whether the Court should issue a preliminary injunction,” but that the state has intervened and opposes the request for the preliminary injunction.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said following Tuesday’s ruling that the transgender sports law “remains in effect across the state” and said his office will continue defending it.

“The court’s ruling allows only this particular plaintiff to play this particular sport at this particular elementary school,” he said in a statement to WXIN-TV.

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7 comments

Lady Rei July 27, 2022 at 7:30 am

Finally, someone with some since. I have 2 boys and one girl. All were terrible at sports and for years my daughter was stronger than the boys. She is probably still stronger than the youngest.

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Pat July 27, 2022 at 9:52 am

the only “sense” in this decision is nonsense

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Slacker06 July 27, 2022 at 8:31 am

Really, A 10-yer old girl/boy??? Ten-year-olds don’t have any clue how the world really works let along the intricacies of their own bodies. The immutable attribute should be the DNA. Feelings do not count. This is unfair to the girl/boy and to the rest of the team members. They should all QUIT when this happens because they are being disrespected! AND the parents are the cause of this gender confusion. They should be punished for this. No 10-year old can come up with this idea all on their own. This judge should be impeached for being stupid and because no one can get a reasoned decision from this court.

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Encouraging Mental illness July 27, 2022 at 9:03 am

“10-year-old transgender girl”…does not exist without encouragement by an adult, and CPS should have a discussion with that Adult and possibly have charges brought against them for child abuse.

What are people in society accepting by allowing this to continue?…..It’s NOT Love and acceptance to encourage this crap…it’s child abuse any way you slice it…Normalizing mental health issues, confusion, ignoring science/biology and promoting tantrums during a critical time in a CHILD’s development….and Democrats wonder why mass shootings by school aged kids are increasing over the last few decades. They create and promote the mental issue policies

Adults should be adults and put a stop to this. Judges need to be held accountable for all their nonsense and obvious BS Left-wing decisions.

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Pat July 27, 2022 at 9:50 am

“She” is a he in reality. Although at that age there may not be much of a biological advantage, allowing this sets a precedent and the slippery slope is engaged. Girls and women deserve better than to have gender-confused boys pretending to be girls taking opportunities intended for real females.

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Pat July 27, 2022 at 9:59 am

Dear ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, Ken Falk,
The only “misinformation about biology and gender” in this case is the false idea that males can become females, and vice versa, which is a biological and genetic impossibility. It is the ACLU and their ilk who are spreading disinformation.

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Yeff July 27, 2022 at 11:33 am

Eventually this issue will arrive at the Supreme Court of the U.S. The question, ‘what is a woman’ will have to be defined. Of course, there will be certain Justices who are very confused about biology referring to ‘women’ as anyone who thinks they are including gender dysphoric males. We are living in the age of stupidity when biological gender has to be deliberated by the SCOTUS!!! Aren’t we better than that? Evidently there are far too many doofuses who are not. Last I checked there are two different chromosomes that are unable to be changed by anyone. Not even a surgeon! Grow up Democrats!

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