Four Inland Empire school districts have signed onto a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court to support a case seeking to ban transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports.
Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a Murrieta-based law firm, on Friday, Sept. 19, filed what’s known as an amicus brief on behalf of several districts in California. The Inland districts are the Chino Valley, Temecula Valley, Murrieta Valley and Perris Union High school districts. The brief backs a West Virginia law barring transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports that is before the high court.
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The brief argues that expanding “sex” under Title IX to include gender identity “ignores biological realities, endangering female students’ physical safety, psychological well-being, and equal opportunities,” a Sept. 22 news release from the law firm states.
The brief does not make the districts part of the legal case.
West Virginia is appealing a lower-court ruling that found a ban on transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports violates the rights of Becky Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has identified as a girl since she was in third grade. Pepper-Jackson, a transgender athlete, sued the state during middle school because she wanted to compete on the cross country and track teams.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Pepper-Jackson in two areas, under the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the landmark federal law known as Title IX that forbids sex discrimination in education.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case later this year.
The Temecula and Murrieta school boards held special meetings Sept. 17 and Chino Valley met Monday, Sept. 8, to consider joining the effort.
Chino Valley’s board unanimously agreed to do so. In Murrieta, the vote was 3-1, with board member Nancy Young voting no and calling it a political stunt. Temecula trustees passed the action with three votes. Board member Steve Schwartz could not attend the meeting and trustee Emil Barham excused himself from the vote, saying it “smelled of corruption.”
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Before the Temecula board went into closed session Wednesday, Sept. 17, Barham argued that the board should deliberate in public. When the board did not agree, he declined to take part in the vote and sat in the audience.
Barham called the process rushed and said the firm did not provide the brief beforehand.
“How can we have effective governance when this is just thrown at us?” he asked. “I believe that this was done purposefully so we would not have a chance to even think or look.”
In Murrieta, trustee Young said that the board was ignoring the community and following a “playbook that is being directed by outside groups.”
“You’ve launched quite a few attacks on our LGBTQ community and there is not an emergency that required we all had to give up our free evening so that you can launch yet another one,” Young said.
The brief had nothing to do with the district or its students, she said, adding that the board was failing in its obligation to be nonpartisan.
In California, several districts have launched fights over the rights of transgender students.
The Murrieta, Chino and Temecula districts have seen court battles in past years over a parent notification policy that would require schools to inform parents if their child changes their name, pronouns or looks to gender affirming sports or facilities.
Murrieta’s school board later rescinded its policy in October 2024. Temecula rescinded its original policy in December 2024 after a Public Employee Relations Board ruling said it violated California laws and then rewrote the policy in June. Chino rewrote its policy in 2024 after a judge ruled that parts of the policy were discriminatory.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law in July 2024 prohibiting districts from implementing such policies.
The same districts have also made news for banning flags other than the United States or military flags from the classroom and supporting a resolution that would support laws barring transgender athletes from participating in girls sports.
In 2013, California passed AB 1266, a law that permits students to access restrooms, sports teams and other facilities based on their gender identity.
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley school board and a candidate for California State Superintendent, said state legislators have “sat back while girls in California have been hurt.”
“We believe every girl deserves fair and safe access to athletics and private spaces,” Shaw wrote in a Monday, Sept. 22, text message.
Signing onto the brief goes beyond sports, she said. It’s about fairness, safety, opportunities and the rights of female athletes that Shaw said are being stolen.
“By joining this brief, we are standing with female athletes and families, demanding accountability, and sending a clear message: Girls matter, and their protections under federal law will not be ignored,” Shaw said.
Murrieta school board member Christine Schmidt said the goal is to protect girls and said critics were “throwing girls under the bus.”
“As far as the amicus brief, it is great way to put our views before the Supreme Court without going into litigation,” Schmidt said. “This is a way to show we want to protect Title IX.”
Temecula school board President Dr. Melinda Anderson said she was approached about the possibility of supporting the brief six weeks ago. As someone who ran on fairness in girls sports, Anderson said it was the right thing to do.
“I believe demonstrating our support for fairness is far more constructive and far more powerful than tearing each other down,” Anderson said.
Board member Joseph Komrosky said it was about turning the “social construct back into a biological reality,” and said he was sick of “this type of wokeism.”
Pepper-Jackson, the teen in the case, is being represented by the National ACLU, ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal, and Cooley LLP. The legal team expects to file its brief by November, Amanda Goad, director of gender, sexuality, and reproductive justice at the ACLU of Southern California said in a Tuesday, Sept. 23, statement.
“On and off the playing fields, we all deserve the right to excel as who we are without politicians trying to police our bodies or identities,” Goad wrote.
Goad said that that California’s school boards were submitting a misinformation-laden brief and contributing to a broader coordinated effort to increase government control.
“We all want sports to be fair and student-athletes to be safe,” Goad said. “Sadly, some elected officials and school leaders are promoting bans that not only demean and harm trans students, but also expose all girls interested in sports to invasive scrutiny.”
The Redlands Unified School District board, which has been criticized for following the lead of other districts, did not hold a special meeting to consider joining the effort, though board members Candy Olson and Jeanette Wilson sought such a session.
“I desperately wanted a special meeting to be called to discuss and vote on whether to join, but it did not happen because the majority of board members did not support doing so,” Olson wrote in a Sept. 22 text message.
Board President Michelle Rendler, could not be reached for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.
Supporting the brief was a “no-risk situation,” Olson wrote.
The board had previously passed a resolution protecting girls sports, making support of the brief a “no-brainer,” she said.
The resolution, “fairness in girls’ sports”, passed April 22, parroted language in a failed state Assembly bill that would have barred transgender athletes from sports that do not align with their gender assigned at birth. The resolution was passed by the Chino, Temecula and Murrieta school boards.
“No legal risk attached and being part of something greater to support biological girls and their rights to compete in an equal/level playing field, in addition to protecting their safety,” Olson wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.