Arizona School Superintendent Tom Horne reacts to SCOTUS ruling on transgender athletes ban

PHOENIX (KYMA) - Arizona State Superintendent on Public Instruction Tom Horne is sharing his reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding a ban on transgender athletes.

In the ruling, the court's conservative majority upheld state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's school and college sports.

Arizona, according to a press release from the Arizona Department of Education (AZED), has a law to protect girl sports from biological males, which two law firms from New York served a lawsuit declaring the law as unconstitutional.

There were four defendants named in the lawsuit, including Horne, and while the three defendants conceded, AZED said Horne "carried the fight forward to keep biological boys out of girls' sports," and said he defended the law out of the AZED budget.

"The news has been full of stories about girls who worked hard on their sports, hoping to make the team, or even earn a college scholarship or qualify for the Olympics," Horne stated. "But then they had to compete against biological boys and their advantages in birth in size, speed and strength. The girls' dreams were shattered and they were devastated."

Horne also added, "Girls have also been injured, including a brain injury, from having to compete against larger and stronger males. I am committed to making sure that Arizona schools follow state law protecting girl sports."