Trends in Legal Challenges to Anti-Transgender Youth Sports Bans

Overview

Since 2020, states across the country have introduced and passed bills that prohibit or significantly limit participation by students who are transgender. Curtailing participation in school sports restricts access not only to healthful activities, but also to the physical, psychological, and academic benefits associated with them. At least eight have been challenged in state or federal courts on constitutional grounds. This fact sheet provides an overview of key trends in legal challenges to states’ restriction of transgender students’ participation in sports.