At just 15 years old, Becky Pepper-Jackson has already made a notable impact in West Virginia high school athletics, placing third in discus during her freshman year. Now a sophomore, she confronts the possibility that this upcoming season may be her last opportunity to compete in girls’ sports within her state. This uncertainty stems from West Virginia’s ban on transgender girls participating in women's athletic programs, a restriction that is also found in over two dozen other states nationwide.
Though the ban has so far been blocked in lower courts, its ultimate fate could hinge on the U.S. Supreme Court, which has predominantly conservative members. This court recently permitted the enforcement of several restrictions targeting transgender individuals. Currently, the justices are hearing arguments in two pivotal cases: one from West Virginia itself, and another from Idaho, where a college student has legally challenged similar prohibitions. Decisions in these cases are anticipated by early summer.
The legal momentum against transgender rights intensified during the Trump administration, which categorically targeted transgender persons, including attempts to remove transgender individuals from military service and affirming that legal gender is defined at birth.
In this contentious landscape, Pepper-Jackson has become a symbolic figure of the broader national debate. The dispute over transgender athletes in competitive sports involves questions related to equity and fairness for cisgender female athletes, with Republicans framing the issue as a defense of women's sports.
Speaking candidly in an interview held via Zoom, Pepper-Jackson emphasized her commitment to competing despite the challenges. Alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, who stood by her through the evolving legal fight, she reflected on her journey from modest beginnings in middle school cross-country races to becoming a determined discus and shot put contender. Her training includes school practice along with workouts in her backyard, complemented by a regimen of weightlifting that has contributed to her improvement.
Pepper-Jackson's athletic progression is intertwined with her ongoing medical treatments; she has been on puberty blockers and publicly identifying as female since third grade. However, following a Supreme Court decision in June upholding bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors, she has had to seek treatment outside her home state.
Opponents, including West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, argue that biological differences—such as physical strength and size—make transgender girls inherently advantaged over cisgender girls, thereby compromising fairness in women’s sports. McCuskey noted that aside from Pepper-Jackson, no other transgender athlete in the state is currently known to be competing or seeking to compete in girls’ sports.
Despite the limited number of transgender athletes, the issue resonates widely across sporting organizations. Governing bodies like the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees have enacted bans on transgender women competing in female categories, following a Trump administration executive order aimed at such exclusions.
Public opinion surveys note that a majority of Americans favor restrictions requiring transgender youth to participate in sports according to their birth-assigned sex. In an October 2025 poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, approximately 60% of adults supported such measures, while 20% opposed them, and the remainder expressed no opinion.
According to data from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, roughly 2.1 million U.S. adults and 724,000 adolescents identify as transgender, representing small but significant demographics in educational and athletic settings.
Legal advocates for restricting transgender participation frame their arguments as part of a broader cultural and political movement. John Bursch, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom—a conservative Christian law firm—characterizes the presence of transgender women in female spaces as a contradiction to women’s rights, emphasizing the importance of protecting opportunities specifically for women and girls across various settings including sports, locker rooms, shelters, and prisons.
Conversely, Heather Jackson attributes the opposition faced by her daughter to societal hatred and marginalization, pointing out that transgender individuals have historically been targeted as minority groups. Becky Pepper-Jackson herself has encountered hostility firsthand, recalling a scenario where a rival athlete wore a T-shirt with a message excluding transgender females from women's sports. Despite such negativity, she strives to maintain focus and composure.
The debate extends into schools beyond public opinion and legal statutes. Pepper-Jackson has faced allegations of bullying teammates with offensive language, claims which she denies, and the local school has found insufficient evidence to support those accusations.
The legal crux revolves around interpretations of the Constitution’s equal protection clause and Title IX, the federal law barring sex discrimination in education. Notably, the Supreme Court recognized workplace discrimination against transgender individuals as a form of sex discrimination in 2020, but has not extended this rationale in cases concerning transgender minors' access to medical treatments.
An extensive array of stakeholders, including states, lawmakers, athletes, medical and scientific experts, and academics, have submitted legal briefs linking the implications of these cases to broader questions of transgender rights and protections.
Beyond the jurisprudential outcomes, the cases may influence policies in states where transgender athletes continue to compete. Amid an uncertain future, Pepper-Jackson remains committed to her athletic passions, signaling that if barred from competition, she will continue weightlifting and participate in her school's concert and jazz bands, acknowledging the emotional challenge that potential exclusion would bring.