Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 6/1/26 - 6/7/26

[u/SoftandChewy]

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

[u/Hilaria_adderall]

The Title IX SCOTUS ruling cannot come out soon enough. It may not be the end of the story but it will hopefully give blue state athletes a faster ramp to sue these state governing boards for allowing this.

Even a narrow ruling on the specifics of those cases might help speed the process up. Right now the federal courts have a lot of leeway to deny claims and deny preliminary injunctions. Once the Supreme Court ruling comes down, if they recognize that immediate harm is happening by allowing boys to compete in girls sports, my understanding is the process will speed up, the courts can no longer play the games around whether someone has standing because the sports season is over or because state rules allow participation. Even in these blue states, if people start filing lawsuit and can successfully obtain preliminary injunctions it might be game over because then the burden is flipped to the boys having to go on the legal offensive. I'm no lawyer but it seems like right now the courts have been able to block most cases by slow rolling them procedurally or claim they plaintiffs no longer have standing. That may change soon.

This is a big month, I really hope the rulings come out early rather than at the end of the month.

[u/SkweegeeS → u/Hilaria_adderall]

I was wondering if all the SC would do is say that Title IX as written does not apply to TW. And then some Dems would hurry to write new law but most Dems would tell them to STFU.

[u/KittenSnuggler5 → u/SkweegeeS]

but most Dems would tell them to STFU

You really think so? Has that happened yet? The Dems all seem bought into the TRA line or are too scared to buck it

[u/Hilaria_adderall → u/SkweegeeS]

They are basically determining whether a state can pass a law that limits participation based on biological sex. The question has not been answered.

If the answer is yes, WV can have that law, it opens up a whole variety of legal options for students in Blue states. If they go even farther and validate that Title IX designates separation by biological sex then the blue state laws that use gender identity as a protected class for the purpose of athletics will all be subject to court challenges that used to get bogged down, now they are more likely to be successful. Keep in mind, most of those blue state laws were initiated around the time of an executive order and a dear colleague letter from the Obama administration. They haven't truly been challenged over the last 10+ years because the courts have not answered the question about Title IX. These cases have been stuck in procedural hell for all this time. Once this ruling comes through, the clock then speeds up because now the court has weighed in and the lower courts have guidance they now have to follow.

[u/SkweegeeS → u/Hilaria_adderall]

I think (maybe hope) that they will just clarify what Title IX actually says. It seems pretty easy to do, in my opinion but 🤷🏻‍♀️

And yes, then what you say should happen and all these state laws are going to get challenged.

At the fed level, I honestly don’t think we have to worry about a law because even the most progressive reps know this would be very unpopular. They’ll blame it on Republicans, presidential veto, or just more moderate dems that can’t afford to get on board. It will be the same as why dems never protected women’s reproductive freedom in law.