On August 19, 2022, the Third District Court of Utah issued an order blocking enforcement of H.B. 11, a newly enacted law barring all transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams. The court held that the new law likely violates the equality guarantees of the Utah Constitution by singling out transgender girls and barring them from competing on girls’ teams, regardless of their individual circumstances. Following a two-day hearing, the court concluded that “the Defendants do not offer persuasive reasons to categorically ban all transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams.” 

The lawsuit, Roe v. UHSAA, was brought by the families of three Utah girls who love sports and wish to play on their schools’ teams. The ruling follows a hearing at which the girls’ attorneys presented evidence of the ongoing harm caused by enforcement of the law. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, represented the plaintiffs in the matter.

The court noted that its decision will not mean that every transgender girl is able to play on girls’ teams, but rather that every transgender girl will have an opportunity to do so. The court explained that under another part of the new law, if the ban is struck down, a statewide commission will “consider confidentially, for each transgender girl who seeks to compete in school athletics, whether it would be fair to permit that transgender girl to compete on girls’ teams.”

The ruling on the preliminary injunction bars enforcement of the ban while the remainder of the litigation proceeds through Utah state courts. 

The Wilson Sonsini team representing the plaintiffs in the matter includes Senior Of Counsel Christine Durham and partner Deno Himonas, both of whom are former Utah Supreme Court Justices, as well as partner Fred Rowley.