Save Women’s Sports activists react to chaotic SCOTUS hearing

Tuesday’s Supreme Court hearing on trans athletes in women’s sports inspired confidence that a majority of justices will side with the legal defense to “save women’s sports” and uphold state bans on biological males in those sports.

But some activists are not at all satisfied with the way the hearing went.

Several female athletes connected to the case and others who gathered outside the court in support of the cultural movement told Fox News Digital their reactions to the hearing, the arguments and the judges’ questions.

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Reactions to the hearing among these women ranged from hopeful optimism at a landmark ruling to extreme disappointment at the judges’ attitudes and choice of words:

The accused

Madison kenney

Kenney, a former cross country and track runner at Idaho State, is a voluntary defendant in Little v. Hickox, which she decided to join after having to compete against a transgender athlete her freshman year in 2019.

“It fills me with excitement and hope for future generations. There should never be any doubt about the rights of nations to protect women’s athletics. I’m glad to see so many people standing up and supporting something as simple and real as this.”

Mary Kate Marshall

Marshall was a Kenyan teammate at Idaho State and had to go through the experience of competing against a trans athlete with a Kenyan, then joined the case alongside her teammate.

“It’s always sad to see people fooled by the lie that men can become women. No amount of hormones can do that. I still hope that more people will see biological reality for what it is: true and unchanged.”

Lenny Armistead

armistead, A former team captain for the West Virginia State University women’s soccer team has intervened in defense of the West Virginia Sports Code in BPJ v. West Virginia.

“It’s been a long journey to get to the Supreme Court, so it was very meaningful for me to see the argument in person. It was a great experience, and I really hope the court protects women’s sports.”

The SCOTUS hearing is bound to be a turning point in the culture war over transgender athletes in women’s sports

The demonstrators

Brooke Slusser

Slusser, a former captain of the women’s volleyball team at San Jose State University, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, the Mountain West Conference and representatives of her school after she discovered that a teammate she was rooming and changing with was biologically male in 2024. Her story received massive media attention during the election season news cycle and prompted a federal investigation into the school.

“It was definitely surreal,” Slusser said of Tuesday’s event as she anxiously awaits a resolution to the case, adding that “not knowing what will happen next and not having an answer yet” is difficult for her.

Stephanie Turner

Turner, a women’s fencer, became an overnight sensation in the Save Women’s Sports movement when video footage of her taking a knee in protest of a transgender opponent in a competition last spring went viral. She was disqualified by USA Fencing for refusing to face an opponent and has not competed in USA Fencing since.

“Let me say I was a little disappointed not because there weren’t any very strong positions from the Supreme Court justices on language, but because they were giving in to new age terms like cisgender.”

Payton McNabb

McNab suffered permanent brain damage when she was hit in the head with a volleyball by a trans athlete during a North Carolina high school game in 2022. McNab has since become one of the movement’s leading activists and was honored by President Donald Trump in the 2025 Joint Address to Congress.

“There was a time not so long ago when many women were afraid to speak up about this issue. Now, to see it being taken seriously at the highest level and to see people no longer afraid to stand up for women and girls, was incredibly powerful. It reminded me of how far this movement has come and why continuing to speak out is so important.”

“The hardest part is realizing that we have justices on the Supreme Court who cannot define what a woman is. To me, that strips credibility. How can someone serve on the highest court in the land and not understand basic biological reality? The fact that the definition of ‘woman’ has even made it to the Supreme Court, and that we don’t know how things will turn out, is astonishing and pathetic.”

Caitlin Wheeler

Wheeler is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who had to face UPenn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2022 NCAA Championships.

“What struck me most was how little was talked about the girls who were affected. During the oral arguments, it was nonstop about the men and boys, their feelings, their experiences, their access, and the girls for whom Title IX was literally written were basically an afterthought. And that’s disgusting to me.”

“Then there’s this pressure to reduce women to a circulating testosterone threshold, as if that’s all we are. As if femininity can be reduced to a laboratory result. That’s insulting. Women don’t have a hormonal level. We’re complex. We’re different, and we deserve protection because of that, not in spite of it.”

Missy Betty

Beatty, a former Lee University women’s volleyball player who had to face a transgender opponent during her college career, is now a legislative strategist for Concerned Women of America.

“Yesterday’s events proved that the movement to protect and advance opportunities for women in sport is not just a knee-jerk reaction to madness; we have cemented ourselves as a legacy. One of the most important things I learned was to see the history we have built, and continue to build.

“Some of the athletes involved have been in this for nearly a decade, and many are thought leaders even long before that. However, the alliance continues to grow and new athletes stand up every day.”

Sophia Laurie

Lori, a former women’s soccer player at Fagard University, currently serves as outreach director for the California Family Council and has been on the front lines of raising awareness of the issue of transgender athletes in girls’ sports in California — the largest hotbed of incidents in the country.

“I was disappointed that the hearings too often focused on male desires rather than the rights and safety of women and girls, the very people this discussion is supposed to protect. Justice Alito stood out by grounding the discussion in reality, asking the fundamental question: What is a man and what is a woman?

“When an ACLU attorney admitted that she couldn’t even identify a man or a woman, she revealed how disconnected this argument was from reality. Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson’s reference to ‘sex assignment at birth’ was particularly troubling.

“While some justices have seemed willing to concede women’s rights through language and abstraction, as when Justice Amy Coney Barrett adopted terms like ‘trans girls,’ I believe science, Title IX, and the Constitution are on the side of women and girls, and that truth will ultimately prevail.”

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Kay Ray

Ray is a former Utah State women’s volleyball player who was part of the team that lost to San Jose State in 2024 to avoid facing Slusser’s transgender teammate.

“I think it’s unfortunate that some of the liberal-leaning judges were so ideological in their questioning, as if they were looking for justifications and justifications for allowing this injustice to continue. I don’t feel like this is a left-wing or right-wing issue, this is a women’s issue.”

“The truth is simple: men do not belong in women’s sports or venues. It is also frustrating to know that we have a judge who does not know or cannot define what a woman is. However, I hope the court will rule in favor of upholding the ban.”

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