CHARLESTON –West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office has filed an amicus brief supporting five Harrison County middle school athletes who have been barred from competing in their next track and field meet after they protested having to compete against a transgender student.
Parents of four of the five girls who were barred from competing filed a complaint April 26 in Harrison Circuit Court against the county board of education. Morrisey’s office filed its friend-of-the-court brief the same day.
The five Lincoln Middle School student-athletes stepped out of the shot put circle without throwing April 18 at the Harrison County Middle School Championships meet. Becky Pepper-Jackson, the transgender athlete, also was competing, and the five girls were protesting Pepper-Jackson’s ability to compete following the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing her to do so. Lincoln Middle School is located in Shinnston.
Pepper-Jackson
| Courtesy photo
“The only thing this decision does is teach these children to keep their mouths shut and not disagree with what they saw as unfairness,” Morrisey said. “That is outrageous, and it tramples these students’ rights to freedom of speech and expression.”
In their complaint, the parents of the four girls say they are being punished by the school board for “exercising their rights to freedom of speech and expression under the Constitution of West Virginia.”
The complaint also details the girls’ protest.
“The minor student athletes’ protests were silent,” it says. “They each stepped into the shot put circle, raised the shot put to their chins, and then stepped out of the shot put circle and handed the shot put to the official. The minor student athletes’ individual protests lasted approximately 10 seconds each and did not disrupt the track meet in any way. The minor student athletes’ protest did not affect any other competitors.
According to the complaint, the five girls were made to run “Indian sprints” at practice by Coach Dawn Riestenberg. And on April 24, they attended a press conference at the state Capitol where Morrisey announced his office is appealing the 4th Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On April 25, Lincoln Middle School Principal Lori Scott told one of the parents the five girls would not be permitted to compete at a meet April 27. The coach told another parent the same thing, adding the girls were “to score points for the track team.”
“Their actions at the earlier track meet were not disruptive or aggrandizing,” the AG’s amicus brief states. “They were the quiet demonstration of the student-athletes’ evident unhappiness with the competitive consequences of a federal appellate court’s decision.
“Rather than being punished for their conduct or being sidelined in an effort to score points, all should commend these young athletes for putting their personal performances aside to demonstrate their discontent with an unjust result that affects them personally and within that event.”
According to AG spokesman John Mangalonzo, the five girls were not allowed to compete at Saturday’s meet.
The complaint sought declaratory judgments saying the defendant’s actions violated the state Constitution as well as legislative rules governing interscholastic sports. It also sought temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring the school board to rescind its discipline and allow the girls to compete in all future competitions, including the one they missed Saturday.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Caleb David and Michael Dunham of Shuman McCuskey Slicer. The AG’s amicus brief was signed by Chief Deputy AG Douglas Buffington II and Deputy AGs Curtis Capehart and Sean Whelan.
Harrison Circuit Court case number 24-C-104
