Grand Canyon Times

Ariz. House Speaker Ben Toma (R) said the legislature has filed a notice of appeal after a federal judge temporarily blocked a state law prohibiting boys from participating in girls’ sports.

“The Legislature intervened in Doe v Horne to defend Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act,” tweeted Toma. “Today we filed a notice of appeal from the court’s misguided ruling and will continue to defend this common-sense law.”

The "Save Women's Sports Act" was signed into law in March 2022 by then-Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.), and prohibits biological males from competing in girls’ sports at the K-12 and collegiate levels. 

Shortly after a lawsuit challenging the law was filed on April 18, 2023 in the U.S. District Court in Tucson, Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) announced that she would not defend the state law.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) told the Grand Canyon Times that he would hire his own legal team to defend the law, and Ariz. Senate President Warren Petersen (R-12) and Toma filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit.

The ruling temporarily blocking the state law was issued by Judge Jennifer G. Zipps of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Zipps, 58, was appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama.