Justice Clarence Thomas sharply criticized transgenderism as a “lie to the public” in a concurring opinion related to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold state policies restricting girls’ sports to biological females. The justice stated that biological sex is an immutable characteristic and asserted that transgender identities do not qualify for legal protections against discrimination.
Thomas, the senior justice on the court, agreed with the majority opinion, which affirmed bans on transgender women participating in women's sports in Idaho and West Virginia. However, he went further than his conservative peers by declaring that transgenderism is not a protected legal class.
“Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or girls, even if they believe that they are. Sex is an immutable ‘biological’ characteristic,” Thomas wrote. “It is binary; and ‘man’ and ‘woman,’ ‘boy’ and ‘girl,’ are the terms that correspond to adults and children of each sex. To use language to obscure reality—to show ‘indifference regarding the truth’— is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens ‘as equal[s].'”
He further stated, “A man does not have a legal right to compete against women just because he believes that he is a woman. The class of people who claim transgender status could more accurately be described as people who are experiencing ‘gender dysphoria,’ which is not a ‘discrete group.’” The Supreme Court currently recognizes race, religion, and national origin as protected classes, and the question of whether transgender status should be added has been a subject of ongoing legal debate, though the court has previously sidestepped the issue.
In the majority opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh used cautious language, referring to the plaintiffs as “transgender” rather than “biological males” and avoiding specific pronouns. Kavanaugh wrote, “Those student athletes want to play sports. Their desire to compete warrants respect. No student-athlete on either side of the issue, whether a biological female or transgender, deserves to be ostracized or vilified.” The majority opinion leaves the determination of transgender girls’ participation in sports to state legislators, allowing for differing policies across the country.
The three Democrat-appointed justices concurred with the judgment but based their agreement on federal law rather than a constitutional ruling, which would have allowed for broader reconsideration.