A biologically male transgender athlete, who is at the center of a Supreme Court case over West Virginia‘s law barring biological men from women’s sports, placed near the top of two events at the state’s recent high school track championship for girls, West Virginia’s attorney general said, contrary to past claims the athlete’s lawyers made about the athlete’s lackluster performances in girls’ track events.
In the pending Supreme Court case West Virginia v. B.P.J., the justices are set to rule on whether West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act, which bars biological men from competing in women’s sports, violates either the equal protection clause or Title IX. As the high court continues to pen its ruling on the case behind closed doors, West Virginia Attorney General John B. McCuskey filed a letter to the Supreme Court detailing how Becky Pepper-Jackson, the biological male who identifies as a woman at the center of the case, performed in the recent West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission’s Track & Field Championships.
The letter from McCuskey’s office noted the biological male finished in fourth place in the Class AAA women’s discus event and won the Class AAA state championship in women’s shot put. The letter noted that Pepper-Jackson, identified in court filings as “B.P.J.,” “outthrew the nearest competitor in shot put by more than 5% (11.88 m to 11.25 m).” The state championship results, combined with other recent high finishes for Pepper-Jackson, are at odds with Pepper-Jackson’s lawyers’ previous claims understating the transgender athlete’s performance in girls’ events.
