Meet 3 transgender student-athletes fighting for the right to play

Despite ever-growing food and fuel prices, an ailing health care system, and violent conflicts in the U.S. and abroad, the far right has decided to continue to wage war on transgender student-athletes. And while politicians debate the topic within our nation’s highest offices, many forget about the real human beings who are affected.Becky Pepper-Jackson Becky Pepper-JacksonJohn Nacion/Getty ImagesWhen West Virginia House Bill 3293, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, became law in 2021, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a track-and-field athlete who identifies as trans, and her family challenged the bill in court.Since then, the battle over whether schools should allow trans student athletes to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity has continued in West Virginia and other red states throughout the nation. On June 30 of this year, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold state bans on transgender girls and women competing in girls’ and women’s school sports.“My 16-year-old daughter, Becky Pepper-Jackson, wants what most kids want: to be herself and play the sport she loves with her friends,” Becky’s mother, Heather Jackson, wrote in an op-ed for USA Today after the ruling. “I always knew that no matter what the court decided, Becky would be a winner because she has shown all of us how to love, accept, and be ourselves no matter the outcome.”Parker Tirrell Parker with her mom Sara at the nation's capital in January.courtesy Sara TirrellParker Tirrell, a lifelong soccer player, and fellow New Hampshire trans student-athlete Iris Turmelle were the first to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, which was signed into law in February of 2025.However, after the June 30 Supreme Court ruling that allows individual states to uphold such bans, the young women announced they had withdrawn their lawsuit. Tnoted that their decision was based on the recent ruling as well as personal hardships the two gi