Hi Friends, and welcome new subscribers! Miss the rally? I hope these photos give you a sense of what it was like to be there.
The Supreme Court rally on January 13 was so thrilling, I’m still high on it. Inside, the Justices heard oral arguments in Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. Outside, we articulated our own oral and written arguments to the media and the public, all in a spirit of optimism and gratitude for our big, bipartisan team.
Today, I’m sharing photos and commentary. After I get a chance to listen to the audio or read the transcript, I’ll offer an overview for non-lawyers, as I did with this preview.
The night before, I hung out with dear friends, Olympic-champion swimmers, and longtime women’s sports advocates Nancy Hogshead, JD, Oly (left) and Donna de Varona. All of us in the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group are lifelong athletes. Seeing Donna’s suit in her hotel bathroom made me smile.
By 7:00 a.m, I was outside the Court, standing in line (above). This was my third attempt to see the oral arguments for this historic case. First, I had applied for a one-day press pass, explaining that I’d written more than 50 stories about the need for female-only sports since 2024 (far more than The Washington Post and The New York Times combined). Rejected. Next, I tried the lottery. Rejected.
Nothing if not persistent, I stood in line for 3 hours with 75 people in 30-degree weather. My toze and noze froze. Only the first five of us — all paid line-sitters, according to grumblers in front of me — got tickets. Oh well.
I hate to admit that I judge people based on appearance, but while waiting in line, I hesitated to talk to the person in pink (above middle and right). I was not in the mood for an oral argument that might turn nasty — especially since I was trapped in line.
However, we ended up chatting amiably. Bree1 (“Hi, I’m trans”) and I (“Hi, I’m Mariah”) agreed that 1) Trump is a corrupt and dangerous disgrace; and 2) trans-identified people should not be vilified. Since I was in listening-not-arguing mode, I did not propose that trans-identified men would be less likely to be vilified if they would stop invading women’s sports and spaces.
He2 told a small group of us that he’s a 60-year-old former men’s college ice hockey player who “transitioned”3 in his fifties and now competes in a women’s league. “Some of the women don’t want me there,” he added, shrugging defiantly.
“Have you ever considered why that might be?” I asked.
“They think I’m better because of my strength, but maybe it’s just because of my skill,” he speculated unconvincingly. “I belong there. I’m female.”
A young women in line with us — an aspiring lawyer named Grace — stepped forward to cross-examine him. Bless her. “Wait, I thought the term was ‘transwoman’ but not female. Isn’t there a difference between sex and gender?” she asked.
“I have the estrogen levels of a female,” Bree responded, “so I’m female,” as if that settled the issue, which it does not, as these signs at the rally later spelled out:
Here are some other written arguments (signs) during about forty oral arguments (speeches) by singer Tish Hyman (see my story here); Kim Jones of ICONS; and women from ROAR Women NYC (above left); and Women’s Declaration International (right).
Also well represented: Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender; Women’s Liberation Front; Alliance Defending Freedom; Do No Harm; Women Are Real; LGB Courage Coalition4; and more. What a satisfying, supportive, joyful, bipartisan movement — and community — we are building (and you, my dear Stronger Women readers, are a big part of it) to restore all-female sports and spaces.
Above: activist and writer Beverley Talbott of Women Are Real; high school girls from Mount Somewhere, New York (sorry); me with Sharron Davies, British Olympic swimming champion; and Melissa Batie-Smoose, the former assistant volleyball coach from San Jose State University who was fired after supporting her athletes, who were upset to discover that their teammate was a stealth male. Speaking of fired, she was so unpopular in San Jose, someone tried to kill her by shooting a bullet through her window while she was sitting in her kitchen. (It missed only due to the double-plated glass.) She moved to another state and is now “unemployable,” she told me.
Above: You might remember that I am a recent convert to hats. As it turned out, it wasn’t cold enough for my trapper hat (above left). But still cold. I took a neon-pink circle scarf and tugged it up over my head, capping it with a white hat for a creative, colorful hack to begin the early-morning line-standing phase of the day. I was still sporting this crazy combo when I ran into Jennifer Sey, above, one of the speakers and founder of XX-XY Athletics. After the weather warmed up, Ellie Swimmer gave me the blue Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender hat above. Then I warmed up more thanks to an emergency venti soy chai latte and went hatless (shown above with Margot Heffernan, a speaker from the Women’s Liberation Front, and Donna de Varona). Thus ended my hat drama — almost.
Nancy Hogshead (above) requested the pink part of my hat contraption, which looked cuter on her. Here she is before, during, and after her speech. The hat matches a little fan’s adorable hearts and smile.
As for the other rally, here’s a quick glance, above. Their messaging could use some work. Genital Obsessed Pervs? Who? We’re not the ones promoting the surgical destruction of troubled children’s healthy body parts. And the Satanic Circle?
Other signs said, “Let Trans Kids Play.” We’re all for that, so long as the boys play in and change clothes with their sex category — like all the girls do.
The opposition was noisy but not violent, as some trans-activist rallies have been, and as I had feared. Security was tight, with cops and bodyguard galore. Riley Gaines, who also spoke on behalf of female athletes, mentioned the sobering fact that she was protecting her three-month-old with a tiny bullet-proof vest.
In this final panoramic photo above,5 you can see the Supreme Court (left), Library of Congress (top), and Capitol (right). Our pro-female team is the larger one toward the top of image, on the far side of a metal barrier that separated the groups up front.
Amid all the flags on their side (bottom of image), Lambda Legal had a presence, as did the ACLU. I did not see anyone from the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, or PFLAG. I wonder if some of the mainstream LGBTQ organizations are gradually giving up on trying to make the case that certain men deserve women’s sports and spaces.
Thoughts? I’m always curious. With love and courage, Mariah
In case you missed my previous story on this case:
Name and photo used with permission.
I respectfully used the words he, him, male, and men with Bree, too, explaining that maleness is the whole problem. If the athletes in question were not male, the Supreme Court case would not be necessary.
The word transition implies changing from one sex to another, which is impossible. I accept only that he transitioned to someone who wears women’s clothing and takes drugs and tries to pass as a woman.
Thanks to Jamie Reed and Lauren Leggieri of the LBG Courage Coalition for hosting their second annual after-party. A blast.
Published with permission from an anonymous photographer.
Thank you for this informative piece and I enjoyed the pics. However, I must say that the notion of a 3-month-old outfitted with a bullet-proof vest really stopped me. Honestly, I can't stop thinking about it and all it says about where we are as a country. That picture also stands in bleak contrast to the image of you having a civil exchange with someone on the other side of the issue (or any issue of the day for that matter).
Thanks for the report on your rally experience, Mariah! It was probably more worthwhile than being inside the courtroom, where they let us in after the hearing had already begun, and I was all the way in the back. It was hard to hear everything they were saying, or even see much of their facial expressions. Afterwards, I left the rally to find a spot to work nearby, and anyway, I couldn't really take the dueling megaphones. By the way, I think I may have been hanging out in the same café as that hockey player. That pink coat and hat definitely stood out. Was he wearing thigh-high white leather boots? Instantly clockable. I feel for the women on his team.