Advancing American Freedom filed the first of a series of three amicus briefs leading a coalition of 52 other amici urging the Supreme Court to hear cases challenging West Virginia and Idaho laws designed to protect women’s and girls’ sports. The Fourth and Ninth circuits enjoined enforcement of those laws.

The physical distinctions between men and women manifest themselves in drastic differences in performance at the highest level of competition. AAF’s briefs argue that while elite female athletes are incredibly talented, they would not be competetive with the top men in the world. The briefs show that giving children puberty blockers, an important element in the West Virginia cases, is just the latest iteration in a pattern of socially acceptable harm that has existed in different forms throughout recorded human history. As the Cass Review out of the UK explains, “a diagnosis of gender dysphoria . . . is not reliably predictive of whether that young person will have longstanding gender incongruence in the future, or whether medical intervention will be the best option for them.” Yet many in America would rush children onto these drugs, potentially setting them up for a lifetime of consequences.

“If men are allowed to compete in women’s sports, women will be discouraged from putting in the years of hard work athletic excellence requires,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “States have both the authority and the responsibility to protect women’s and girls’ sports and to ensure that children are allowed to experience normal physiological development free from medically unnecessary surgical and hormonal manipulation.”

Read the full brief here.