SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — H.B. 11, a Utah state ban on transgender girls competing in sports, has gone into effect after several years. The ban was stopped from going into effect in 2022 due to a lawsuit, which the plaintiffs have now dropped.
In 2022, the Utah legislature voted to enact House Bill 11 (H.B. 11) or the “Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities” bill, which has a statute that prohibits, “a student of the male sex from competing against another school on a team designated for female students.”
Notably, the bill affects transgender girls, those who are transitioning from male to female, from participating in school sports.
H.B. 11 has been the subject of a several-years-long legal battle after the Third District Court of Uth granted a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement. The motion for the injunction was filed as part of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati Law firm on behalf of two Utah families.
After three years, the plaintiffs filed a stipulation of dismissal for the lawsuit, which was granted by Judge Derek Williams on October 6, 2025. With this dismissal, H.B. 11 can go into effect.
In regard to the lawsuit dismissal, the Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz called this “a major win for fairness, safety, and the preservation of women’s sports in Utah.”
His full comment, posted on social media, reads:
Big news for Utah!! HB 11 “Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities,” which we passed in 2022, is now fully in effect as the law in Utah. Biological males will no longer be able to compete in girls’ sports, the Athletic Eligibility Commission will be dissolved, and eligibility for girls’ sports will once again be based on sex at birth.
The Utah Legislature led the way on this issue nearly 4 years ago – it wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do. A huge shoutout and thanks to former Rep Kera Birkeland for her leadership and determination to see this over the finish line. This is a major win for fairness, safety, and the preservation of women’s sports in Utah.”
ABC4 has also reached out to the plaintiffs in this lawsuit for comment but have not yet heard back at the time of this publishing.
House Bill 11 was introduced during the 2022 legislative session and passed in the Utah legislature.
In March of 2022, Utah Governor Cox vetoed the bill and stated that the bill had been fundamentally changed with no public input before passing and could lead to lawsuits for local school districts and for the Utah High School Athletic Association.
The Utah legislature then voted to override Cox’s veto and HB 11 was set to go into effect until a preliminary injunction was granted in a lawsuit filed against the Utah High School Activities Association.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati Law Firm on behalf of two Utah families, argued that H.B. 11 violated numerous provisions of the Utah constitution.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that, “the law erroneously uses a student’s transgender status as a proxy for athletic ability and thus is overbroad, unjustifiably banning all transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams regardless of their individual circumstances or the sport in which they want to compete.”
The lawsuit further notes that any differences in sports between genders comes from hormone levels that “diverge only after the onset of puberty.”
One of the plaintiffs, a transgender teenager was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and received puberty blocking medication. The lawsuit notes that she had not gone through male puberty and that she enjoys volleyball.
Forcing her to play on a boy’s sports team, the lawsuit argues, “would be painful and humiliating” and would “contradict her medical treatment for her gender dysphoria”. It also argues that it put a target on her back by singling her out as transgender.
The lawsuit asked that the court block H.B. 11 from going forward and argued that it clearly violated the plaintiff’s rights to equal civil, political, and religious rights and privileges.
The full lawsuit can be read below.
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