BLOUNT COUNTY, ALABAMA · SCHOOLS & ATHLETICS
Blount County, Alabama
Transgender School Sports: The Rules Blount County Families Can Check for 2026–27
A June Supreme Court decision upheld sex-based eligibility rules in two states. Alabama’s statute and the current AHSAA handbook provide separate sources for school athletics here.
Sources reviewed
What the June ruling decided
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 30 in West Virginia v. B. P. J. and the related Idaho case, Little v. Hecox, that the challenged sex-based rules for girls’ and women’s sports could stand under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The Court reversed the lower-court judgments and returned the cases for further proceedings. Read the Court’s opinion.
The decision permits the restrictions it examined; it does not impose a new nationwide sports ban. Footnote 1 expressly leaves undecided whether schools may allow transgender girls on girls’ teams and says the opinion does not decide participation by female students on male or coed teams. The decision includes partial dissents.
Alabama already has a separate school-sports law
Alabama Code §16-1-52 restricts participation in public-school athletic teams using the statute’s categories of biological male and biological female. For K–12 schools, it prohibits a biological male from joining a female team and a biological female from joining a male team when a female team exists in that sport.
Subsection (c) excludes events allowing both male and female participants from the K–12 restrictions in subsection (b). Separate provisions address public-college sports and expressly preserve eligibility for coed or mixed teams. The Legislature’s enrolled 2023 amendment shows that structure. A summary that says every transgender student is prohibited from every sport would overstate these provisions.
The 2026–27 AHSAA handbook adds association rules
The current Alabama High School Athletic Association handbook, Rule III, Section 6, says girls may not join a boys’ team when a girls’ team is offered in that sport and boys may not join a girls’ team. Its note identifies the certified birth certificate as the document used for gender participation.
Section 5 requires the school principal to verify and submit the eligibility roster before a contest. The handbook, state statute and Court decision are distinct sources; none substitutes for the school’s review of an individual student’s complete eligibility information.
Start with the school’s athletic eligibility process
For a student’s participation question, the practical starting point is the school principal or athletic director. Families can ask which statute, handbook section and documentation requirement applies to the team and season in question. The AHSAA’s publications and forms page links the current handbook and required participation forms.
Blount County Schools and Oneonta City Schools operate separately. A rule, response or decision from one system should not automatically be attributed to the other. An individual eligibility determination also requires more information than the statewide documents reviewed here.
What is and is not established locally
This is a review of the rules relevant to the 2026–27 school year, not a report of a newly adopted Blount County restriction or a local dispute. WorthFighting.org has not verified a student complaint, team exclusion or new county-board action for this article.
School restroom access is governed by a separate statutory provision and is addressed in our earlier report on restroom rules. The athletics ruling should not be used as a substitute for reading that law, and this account does not determine any individual student’s legal rights or eligibility.
Sources and reporting
Document-based reporting from the Supreme Court opinion, Alabama’s enrolled amendment and published code, and the 2026–27 AHSAA handbook. We visually checked the Court’s scope-limiting footnote, the amendment’s relevant changes and the handbook’s participation rule. No local student, complaint, exclusion, board action or individual eligibility decision was verified. Statutory language is attributed to its source; no person’s gender identity is inferred.
- U.S. Supreme Court: West Virginia v. B. P. J. and Little v. HecoxDecided June 30, 2026; opinion and scope-limiting footnote reviewed October 19, 2026
- Alabama Legislature: enrolled HB261, amendment to §16-1-522023 enrolled amendment; additions and deletions visually reviewed October 19, 2026
- Justia: published Alabama Code §16-1-522025 code edition; checked October 19, 2026
- AHSAA: 2026–27 handbookJuly 2026 publication; Rule III, Sections 5–6 reviewed October 19, 2026
- AHSAA: publications and formsCurrent handbook listed as approved July 29, 2026; checked October 19, 2026
- Blount County Schools: board informationReviewed October 19, 2026
- Oneonta City Schools: district informationReviewed October 19, 2026