On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps blocked the Save Women’s Sports Act from being enforced. The judge’s ruling lifts the protections the Act provided biological girls involved in sports.
The judge, who was nominated by Barack Obama, found that transgender girls (those who are born biological boys) who haven’t undergone normal male puberty due to the use of drugs, do not have a physical or physiological advantage over biological girls. As a result, the judge ruled transgendered girls should be allowed to play on girls’ teams.
“They do not have a competitive advantage over other girls, and they do not pose a safety risk,” concluded the judge.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is challenging Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act vowed to appeal Zipps’ ruling.
“We will appeal this ruling. This will ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court, and they will rule in our favor,” said Horne.
“The Plaintiffs in this case claimed that this only involves pre-pubescent boys, but we presented peer-reviewed studies that show pre-pubescent boys have an advantage over girls in sports,” explained Horne. “The only expert presented by the Plaintiffs was a medical doctor who makes his money doing sex transition treatments on children and who has exactly zero peer-reviewed studies to support his opinion.”
In 2022, S.B. 1165, the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” was passed to ensure young females are protected and provided with an even playing field in sports competition and athletic opportunities. On March 30, this bill was signed into law by former Governor Doug Ducey.
The law requires “any athletic team that is sponsored by a public or private school to be designated based on the biological sex of the student participants. It allows injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law for students or schools that suffer any direct or indirect harm due to a violation.”
📢 Official Statement from AZ Women of Action on the US District Court Judge's order regarding Horne vs Doe:
The US District Judge Jennifer Zipps ruled, “As a matter of fact and law” (but against common human understanding and empirical reality) that biological girls have no… pic.twitter.com/j1NbUqsDTK
— Arizona Women of Action (@azwomenofaction) July 21, 2023