FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Media Contact:
Jonathan Ng
Communications Director
jonathan@edmarkey.org

BOSTON, Mass. – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Senate author of the Trans Bill of Rights, released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld discriminatory laws targeting transgender athletes in West Virginia v. B.P.J.

“Today’s ruling is inhumane and unjust,” said Senator Markey. “The Supreme Court has become Trump and MAGA Republicans’ tool to persecute and dehumanize the trans community. Kids deserve so much more than to be debated on cable news and in the courts by hateful politicians scapegoating them as talking points or using them to deflect from current failed economic policies.”

Markey also called out his primary opponent, Congressman Seth Moulton, for past comments that harmed the trans community, as Moulton tries to rewrite a new narrative on the subject as he campaigns statewide. In November 2024, Moulton told the New York Times, “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

For months, Congressman Moulton not only refused to apologize for these comments but actively defended them, claiming he was being “brutally honest” and dismissing critics as people trying to “cancel” him. He has consistently stood by those remarks, reaffirming them as recently as April 2026 when he told the Washington Post, “Of course I stand by it.”

“Seth Moulton should be ashamed for being part of the movement that is ripping these kids away from the sports they love and the dignity they deserve as human beings,” Markey added. “While Seth attempts to re-write history, pretending he has stood with the trans community all along, we know the truth. Seth should own up to the fact that he made vulnerable kids political fodder for his political ambitions.  I will keep fighting for trans rights. I want every trans person and their family fighting for the right to participate fully in public life to know that they are seen and valued. Discrimination and hate cannot and will not win.”

In January, Senator Markey joined trans rights advocates at a rally outside of the Supreme Court during the oral arguments for West Virginia v. B.P.J. and its companion case, Little v. Hecox.

In November 2025, Sen. Markey along with other lawmakers filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in these cases, arguing that the categorical bans at the center of the two cases violate the protections of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, and undermine the ability of transgender students to be part of their school community.