Ayotte Joins GOP Governors Backing Girls' Sports As SCOTUS Considers Trans Ban

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to hear oral arguments Tuesday in Washington, D.C., regarding transgender athletes in girls’ sports, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte joined a group of GOP governors in a public statement reiterating their support for protecting women’s sports for biological females.

“Recognizing the unique and inherent biological differences between men and women is not radical. It is common sense,” the 26 governors said. “Those trying to erase our unique differences and ignore biological reality are doing so in the name of ‘inclusivity.’ Forcing women and girls to compete against men, with greater strength and speed, is the opposite of inclusive. It’s unfair.”

The statement was endorsed by conservative governors such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, as well as more moderate leaders, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Notably absent from the statement was Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican.

Ayotte made protecting girls’ and women’s sports from biological males part of her campaign for governor in 2024.

“As the proud mom of a three-sport state champion female athlete, I believe protecting women’s sports is a matter of fairness,” Ayotte told NHJournal at the time. “Women fought for decades to achieve that fairness through Title IX. When I am governor, New Hampshire’s female athletes will have a champion in the Corner Office.”

Polls consistently show that a strong majority of Granite Staters — including a plurality of Democrats — support keeping biological males out of girls’ sports competitions.

The outcome of the landmark cases before the court Tuesday, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, is expected to serve as the final word on New Hampshire’s popular Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.

The Supreme Court is weighing whether state laws barring males who identify as female from girls’ sports violate the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX. While West Virginia and Idaho are the primary focus of Tuesday’s hearing, the ruling will provide a definitive legal framework for the 28 states, including New Hampshire, that have enacted similar restrictions.

Signed into law by former Gov. Chris Sununu in July 2024, HB 1205 requires school sports teams in grades five through 12 to be designated by biological sex. The law was nearly unanimously opposed by Democratic legislators and was challenged in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

In September 2024, Chief Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction in the case of Tirrell and Turmelle v. Edelblut. The ruling allowed two male students, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, to continue competing on their respective girls’ soccer and track teams. McCafferty ruled the state’s categorical ban likely discriminated against the students, particularly because they had not undergone testosterone-driven puberty.

Supporters of the law, including state Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, argue the ban is necessary to protect the integrity of women’s sports.

“We are erring on the side of caution and trying to protect the competitiveness of sports for biological females,” Lang previously told NHJournal.

Defenders of laws based on biological sex won a major victory last year in United States v. Skrmetti, when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a Tennessee law banning sex-change procedures for minors did not constitute sex-based discrimination.

That ruling dealt New Hampshire advocates for transgender athletes another blow when the court said states were not required to meet a “heightened scrutiny” standard when defending such laws. Because McCafferty’s current injunction in New Hampshire is built on the premise that transgender athletes are entitled to heightened scrutiny, a ruling applying Skrmetti’s lower standard to sports participation would likely result in the New Hampshire ban being fully reinstated.

“Across the nation, Republican governors have taken action to enact common-sense laws protecting girls’ and women’s sports in our states,” Ayotte and her fellow governors said.

“Blurring the biological line between men and women breaks down the protections afforded to both biological sexes and only emboldens those who wish to destroy inherent truths. Together, we stand with Idaho and West Virginia in their case at the Supreme Court.”

While Ayotte supported the girls-only sports legislation in New Hampshire, she vetoed a separate bill that would have allowed biological males to be barred from private spaces for women, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, jails, and prisons. A similar bill was vetoed by former Gov. Chris Sununu.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.