On Friday, September 15, 2023, America First Legal (AFL) filed a friend of the court brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Doe v. Horne case to defend Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act on behalf of Arizona Women of Action (AZWOA) and Anna Van Hoek, Lisa Fink, and Amber Zenczak, whose daughters play sports on girls’ teams in school.
The amicus brief was filed in support of Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and Arizona Senate President Warren Peterson and Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma’s appeal to the district court’s preliminary injunction order that allowed the two plaintiffs in the case – both biological males – to play on their schools’ girls sports teams. This brief argues that the district court did not consider the Arizona Legislature’s scientific data that shows the biological differences between males and females and the unfair advantage of biological males competing in girls’ sports. The brief also explains the real-world consequences that girls in Arizona have suffered, and will suffer, when males compete against them.
“On behalf of Arizona parents and their student-athlete daughters, Arizona Women of Action strongly supports the Save Women’s Sports Act to ensure the safety and level playing field of female athletics. The facts and statistics don’t lie – the differences between males and females are real, even before puberty, and AZWOA stands with Superintendent Tom Horne and the Arizona Legislators to protect women’s sports here in Arizona,” stated Kim Miller, founder and director of Arizona Women of Action, and mother of three daughters who played competitive sports, and one competing now at the collegiate level.
The district court still has not ruled on AZWOA’s Motion to Intervene, which was filed on June 30, 2023.
The underlying complaint against the law was filed in April by two biological males: a pre-pubescent 11-year-old who wants to play girls’ soccer, basketball, and cross-country, and a 15-year-old volleyball player, who is on puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones.