The Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The families of two Utah teenagers have dropped their lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on transgender players in girls’ sports.
The families and the Utah High School Activities Association agreed to the dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled later on, according to a Monday court filing.
The end to the case comes after more than three years of legal wrangling and after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed over the summer to hear similar cases from Idaho and West Virginia. In those cases, lower courts sided with transgender athletes seeking to compete, and the states appealed.
After state lawmakers passed Utah’s ban in 2022, the families of the two transgender athletes sued in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court. A judge placed the prohibition on hold while the case played out, triggering the start of a state commission fielding requests from transgender girls seeking to compete in high school sports.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said on social media that with the lawsuit over, Utah’s ban is law and the commission will be dissolved.
“This is a major win for fairness, safety, and the preservation of women’s sports in Utah,” Schultz, R-Hooper, said in a post on X.
The families of the Utah teens had argued the ban singled them out for being transgender, violating their rights to due process and equal treatment under Utah’s constitution.
“Our plaintiffs — young, courageous girls — showed remarkable strength under scrutiny,” said Aaron Welcher with the ACLU of Utah, which represented the families. “Our commitment to transgender youth continues, because protecting one group’s rights protects everyone’s.”
Attorneys for the families and the state wrote in this week’s court filing that “the parties will bear their own respective costs, expenses, and fees.”
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