What A Can Of Worms!

So, in my news feed this morning was a story about a California trans court case... it is both good news and a great big unknown. In case you haven't heard, we had a victory... of sorts.

Lawyers and Settlements reports:

California Wins Transgender Athletes Lawsuit

A federal judge has ruled that California can continue allowing transgender girls to compete in girls’ school sports, despite a recent Supreme Court decision allowing other states to ban them.

September 8, 2026,

By Jane Mundy

The legal battle over transgender athletes has produced an unusual result: states may ban transgender girls from girls’ sports, but they don’t have to.

Federal Judge Cynthia Valenzuela August 31st dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit challenging California policies that allow transgender students to compete on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

[...]

In its June 30 decision, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that West Virginia and Idaho could restrict participation on girls’ teams based on biological sex. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that states “may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females” and may determine eligibility based on biological sex.

But “may” turned out to be an important word. The Supreme Court did not rule that every state must adopt those restrictions. Nor did it decide the separate question of whether Title IX permits transgender girls to participate on girls’ and women’s teams.

Valenzuela concluded that nothing in Title IX clearly required California to exclude transgender girls. She found California had not received clear notice that billions of dollars in federal education funding were contingent on banning transgender girls from girls’ sports. The federal government’s guidance on the issue has also shifted repeatedly over the past decade.

What happens when a trans-friendly state plays a non-trans-friendly state?

Education Week reported that;

Therefore, Valenzuela wrote that California “lacked clear notice” of such categorical exclusion of transgender athletes as a condition of the federal funding California received, and other court decisions—including the Supreme Court’s in June—did not “supply the missing clarity.”

It seems like each state is on its own. If "states' rights" hold up in court, it will be very interesting to see what happens. What will happen, say, in the Rose Bowl if one team bans trans athletes, or if a team with trans athletes plays in a state that bans them? Will they have to forfeit?