A federal appeals court struck down a West Virginia law that barred transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams in public schools and colleges. In a 2-1 ruling Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Becky Pepper-Jackson, 13, a transgender girl who argued that the law prevented her from running on the girls’ cross-country and track teams at her middle school. The federal appeals court, which is based in Richmond, Virginia, concluded that the state legislation violated Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or education programs that receive funding from the federal government.