The following article was submitted by District 7A Delegate Kathy Szeliga in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to protect women’s sports.
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision reaffirming that states can protect women’s sports, Senator Mary Beth Carozza (District 38) and Delegate Kathy Szeliga (District 7A) announced their intention to reintroduce the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act in Maryland during the regular 2027 Maryland General Assembly Session.
“We are committed to ensuring a fair, safe level playing field for our Maryland female athletes, and this Supreme Court decision opens up the way for protecting girls’ sports in Maryland,” said Senator Carozza, who was a scholarship tennis player at The Catholic University of America.
“As more and more states are passing fairness in girls’ sports bills, our Maryland female athletes are being left behind. The Maryland General Assembly needs to take action now and stand up for our Maryland female athletes.”
“Last week’s Supreme Court decision is a victory for common sense and for female athletes across America,” said Delegate Kathy Szeliga.
“Girls’ sports exist because men and women are biologically different. From lower volleyball nets and smaller basketballs to different rules in sports like lacrosse, those distinctions have always recognized fairness and safety. The Court’s decision affirms that women and girls deserve a level playing field and the opportunity to compete on equal terms.”
The decision announced in West Virginia, et al. Petitioners v. B.P.J. By her Next Friend and Mother, Heather Jackson, out of the 4th Circuit and Bradley Little, Governor of Idaho, et al, Petitioners v. Lindsay Hexox, et al, out of the 9th Circuit Court, opens the way for protecting girls’ sports.
The Supreme Court affirmed that neither the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution nor the Federal Title IX statute prevents states from maintaining separate girls’ sports teams based on the player’s biological sex irrespective of their professed gender identity.
As the Court’s opinion discusses, the concept of “gender identity” is alien to the concepts of men’s and women’s sports as understood throughout the history of both the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX. Even the Court’s most left-leaning justices conceded that transgender advocates in this case failed to support such an interpretation of Title IX.
The majority opinion further found the states’ justification for sex-based teams adequate under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Court also found that there was no constitutional requirement to further justify such a rule’s application to a biological boy who claimed to be a girl.
The Majority found that none of the opinions held transgenderism to be a classification demanding special constitutional scrutiny. Therefore, the state only had to justify having separate boys’ and girls’ teams in general.
“The Court recognized that the entire purpose of having separate teams for boys and girls is so that members of each sex can enjoy the benefits of athletic competition as practiced by each sex,” said Carozza.
“Allowing males to compete in women’s sports forces a breakdown of the entire system that is unfair to the other competitors.”
Delegate Kathy Szeliga further commented, “The Supreme Court’s decision is backed not only by the Constitution, but by common sense and public opinion.
A 2025 Gonzales statewide poll found that 76% of Marylanders oppose allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports, including 83% of African American voters.
On this issue, Marylanders speak with one voice: girls’ sports should be for girls.”
Both Carozza and Szeliga said that female athletes across the State of Maryland and their parents, coaches, and grandparents have been urging them to move forward with the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act in Maryland.
PThey vow to reintroduce the bill in January.