Words by Eliel Cruz

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has declined to take up a case brought forth by the infamous Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to overturn the right to marriage for same-sex couples. Still, although it was a long shot — and SCOTUS gets asked to take up thousands of cases each year — the fear within LGBTQIA+ people was palpable on social media. LGBTQIA+ people, mostly gays and lesbians, posted about this case as a looming threat, even though it was only a petition for SCOTUS to take up the case. And in the end, they declined. In stark contrast, SCOTUS has taken up cases that threaten the lives of transgender people without nearly the same attention paid to them. Where’s the solidarity? I’ve discussed this before in my column: the lack of gay men rallying behind trans people during these historic attacks.

In June, SCOTUS upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for youth in Tennessee, which greenlit similar partial and full bans in twenty-seven states. These bans have made families flee states, and some even the country, as they try to get the necessary, lifesaving healthcare for their children. In the first week of his second term, President Trump signed a slew of anti-trans Executive Orders targeting trans people, including one that threatens to defund schools that allow trans athletes to compete.

Now, SCOTUS is set to hear another case on January 13, 2026, on trans athletes’ participation in school sports, with a decision expected in Summer 2026. All LGBTQIA+ people and our allies must watch and rally for the right to let trans kids play, because this fight is so much more than just the ability for kids to play sports.

The case before the court, West Virginia v. B.B.P.J., is a challenge to the state’s sports ban from a 15-year-old athlete, Becky Pepper-Jackson, the only openly trans athlete in the entire state of West Virginia. Becky is part of her school’s track and field team, throwing discus and shot put.

“I play for my school for the same reason other kids on my track team do: to make friends, have fun, and challenge myself through practice and teamwork,” said Becky Pepper-Jackson in a press release from the ACLU, which represents her alongside Lambda Legal and Cooley LLP. “And all I’ve ever wanted was the same opportunities as my peers. Instead, I’ve had my rights and my life debated by politicians who’ve never even met me but want to stop me from playing sports with my friends.”

Indeed, conservatives did not care about trans athletes — their ire targeting trans women and girls — until the last couple of years, when hundreds of bills were introduced to end participation in sports, even though the percentage of trans athletes is quite small. Last year, in front of Congress, the President of the NCAA said he knew of fewer than ten trans athletes out of the 500,000 in the entire country. Even still, twenty-nine states have bans on transgender athletes’ participation in sports.