FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 30, 2020
BOISE, Idaho – A motion for preliminary injunction was filed today in Hecox v. Little, the lawsuit challenging Idaho’s recently passed law that bans women and girls who are transgender and many women and girls who are intersex from participating in school sports. The law also subjects all female athletes to the possibility of invasive genital and genetic screenings.
The motion asks the judge to block implementation of the law, HB 500, by early August, when athletic tryouts for the fall season at Boise State University and Boise High School will begin. The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2020. The motion is based on the law’s violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
"My life is not centered around being transgender; while it is an important part of my identity, it does not define me nor is it something I want to think about every day. However, in this case I will be proudly trans because this attack on trans people is too important to ignore,” says Lindsay Hecox, a student at Boise State University who is transgender and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Hecox is training to join Boise State’s cross country team this fall and its track team in spring 2021.
“We are asking the federal court to stop this unconstitutional law before it ever harms Idaho students,” said Ritchie Eppink, Legal Director of the ACLU of Idaho. “A preliminary injunction will maintain the NCAA and Idaho High School Activities Association rules already in place.”
“During the legislative session, the community expressed alarm about how girls - and only girls, not boys - would be required to submit to sex verification. It's important the court prevent such intrusive testing from beginning,” says Chelsea Gaona-Lincoln, Litigation Support Coordinator for Legal Voice.
Idaho is the first state to impose an outright ban on participation of transgender athletes and the only with a statewide law regulating transgender and intersex athletes in the country. The lawsuit challenging HB 500 was filed in federal district court by the ACLU of Idaho, Legal Voice, National ACLU and Cooley LLP. It was filed on behalf of Lindsay Hecox and Jane Doe, a junior at Boise High School.
