Culture War Victories
At the end of June, transgender extremism took a hit, while Texas allowed the use of Bibles in the classroom.
On June 30, the final day of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court session, the justices upheld West Virginia and Idaho laws that prohibit boys from participating in girls’ sports.
In a 6–3 ruling, SCOTUS held that the laws did not violate Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in education, or the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
“Title IX allows schools to provide separate women’s and men’s sports teams defined by biological sex, and West Virginia has permissibly maintained female sports for biological females consistent with Title IX,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion.
Kavanaugh added, “Safety and competitive fairness issues can arise when females are forced to compete against males. In recent years, 27 states and various sports-governing bodies have all drawn the same line.”
Unbelievably, lawyers for Linday Hecox, a transgender athlete in Idaho, argued that biological men have no competitive advantage in women’s sports.
In an incoherent dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court’s decision “inflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions.”
Of course, all the usual suspects, notably teacher union leaders, were aghast at the decision. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said, “As a nation, we long ago decided that discrimination is wrong and that everyone, regardless of their gender, race, or place, deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. That commitment must include transgender youth, who, like all students, deserve the chance to fully participate in school, thrive, and prepare for their future. Sports teach young people leadership, confidence, self-discipline, and teamwork, lessons no child should be denied because of who they are.”
What it comes down to is the simple truth that there are natural physical differences between boys and girls. As explained by Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist, “Sex differentiation begins in the womb, and boys also experience a brief surge of testosterone in infancy, often called ‘mini-puberty,’ which influences later body composition and motor development. By school age, boys already tend to have more lean mass, less fat, larger hearts, and greater lung capacity. These differences are not ‘stereotypes.’ They are physical traits directly relevant to sport.”
Wright also notes that boys differ significantly from girls across all grades, and large school-based fitness datasets corroborate these findings. “Before puberty, boys outperform girls in grip strength, muscular endurance, running speed, aerobic capacity, ball throwing, and kicking distance, while girls generally outperform boys in flexibility.”
Additionally, scientist James Nuzzo’s review of nearly 170 studies with grip-strength data from more than 350,000 children across 45 countries found that boys are consistently stronger than girls at every age.
Mark Schneider, president of Protect Our Kids, sums it up. “Today’s decision is a victory for common sense, for equal opportunity, and for every girl who has ever stepped onto a playing field believing that their talent and hard work—not gender identity—should determine the outcome of fair competition. When girls compete, they deserve to know they’re competing against other girls. Today’s decision gives teeth to that promise.”
Another victory in America’s culture war unfolded in Texas, where on June 26 the state approved a sweeping new book list that includes excerpts from the Bible, which Texas education officials regard as a vital work of literature for understanding our country’s founding and culture.
The proposed social studies standards highlight the influence of the Bible and the Ten Commandments on the founders and on American law, referencing various biblical figures. They sometimes ask students to connect religious texts to history, including a 6th-grade standard that compares Harriet Tubman to Moses in the Exodus story.
However, critics argue that using the Bible violates the separation of church and state and is part of a broader effort to infuse Texas public schools with Christian values. Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, warns that these standards will reflect a Christian nationalist momentum and serve as a model for like-minded individuals in other states.
Another naysayer, Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, maintains, “The government of Texas, let alone any American government body, should never be in the business of imposing one religion on everyone.”
The “imposing” argument is absurd. The Texas action has nothing to do with indoctrination. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
There is no mention of the “separation of Church and State.” Additionally, the Bible is not exclusively Christian; for example, Abraham and Moses, both Jewish figures, are mentioned repeatedly.
Furthermore, Utah state senator Todd Weiler importantly notes that from the American Revolution onward, religion has shaped pivotal moments in American history. “Clergy preached independence from their pulpits, framing liberty and equality as moral obligations. Abolitionists condemned slavery as incompatible with the belief that all people are children of God. The civil rights movement was largely organized through churches, where ministers called for justice grounded in both constitutional ideals and biblical teachings.”
Weiler also asserts that while students may be able to place the Emancipation Proclamation on a timeline and explain its significance during the Civil War, far fewer know that Abraham Lincoln told his cabinet he had made a solemn promise to his “Maker” to issue it.
Many national leaders have framed national events through a religious lens. During the D-Day invasion, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered one of the largest public prayers in history on the radio. He asked Americans to join him, not just once but daily, in praying for our troops. In 1954, Congress added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance as a direct ideological counter to communism.
The U.S. has just celebrated its 250th birthday with two positive, common-sense school-related changes. In states that choose to prohibit it, boys will not be allowed to participate in girls’ sports, and schools in Texas will be permitted to include references to the Bible.
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Larry Sand is a retired classroom teacher with 28 years of experience and served as president of the nonprofit California Teachers Empowerment Network from 2006 to 2025. He currently works to raise awareness of the shortcomings of our education system.