Trump Ally Leads Lawsuits Against Trans Athletes
The lawyer, Bill Bock, is also prominently affiliated with a conservative Christian group that seeks “reformation of nations.”
by Valorie Van-Dieman and Billie Jean Sweeney
The lawyer behind three major anti-trans lawsuits has been an important, years-long ally of President Trump, leading Trump’s failed effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Wisconsin and more recently endorsing Trump’s attacks on big law firms.
The lawyer, Bill Bock, is also prominently affiliated with a conservative Christian group, Truth and Liberty, that seeks dominion in all major aspects of societal life, or what it terms on its website as the “reformation of nations through the seven mountains of cultural influence.”
Bock is plaintiff’s attorney in three cases that may not only shape trans inclusion in sports but also have wider repercussions for anti-trans discrimination for many years.
Working closely with a group called a ICONS, Bock has been a driving force in organizing and filing the March 2024 lawsuit by Riley Gaines against the NCAA; a lawsuit filed in fall 2024 against the Mountain West Conference and San Jose State; and a lawsuit filed in February against the Ivy League, Harvard, and Penn.
ICONS, or the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, was granted nonprofit status in 2023 although its political activities began at least a year earlier. It solicits donations on its website, reporting revenue of $454,000 and expenses of $257,000 in its most recent Form 990 tax filing. Its filing discloses no contributors by name. IRS records show that Truth and Liberty is no longer listed as a nonprofit.
Bock has been an important ally of Trump, serving as lead counsel in Trump’s failed 2020 attempt to overturn the election results in Wisconsin. In arguing the case, Bock sought to exclude votes that he claimed “lowered guardrails” in Wisconsin, such as absentee ballots filed in drop boxes used during the pandemic as a health precaution.
This month, Bock defended Trump’s attacks on the independence of major law firms, telling the Washington Examiner that “Big Law has tended to be completely captured by the Left.” The American Bar Association has denounced Trump’s coercive tactics.
Mainstream media coverage has taken much of the hard-line, partisan edges off ICONS and its lawyer. The New York Times recently lauded ICONS as the “preeminent” group seeking to ban trans athletes, calling it “remarkable” because neither of its founders had “a media or political background.”
The Times did not mention that ICONS has convened highly publicized “international summits” in Las Vegas beginning in 2022 that have featured speakers such as the anti-trans campaigner Helen Joyce, Gaines and Bock. Nor did the Times story make any mention of Bock’s extensive background as a political ally of Trump or his affiliation with Truth and Liberty, founded by the conservative evangelist Andrew Wommack.
Bock did not immediately respond to queries from Assigned Media seeking further information about his role at Truth and Liberty, or his involvement in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2000 vote in Wisconsin.
ICONS’ anti-trans campaign has found an international audience, its positions eagerly promoted in the notoriously transphobic UK news media. ICONS, in turn, has amplified reports that first appeared on far-right websites like Reduxx that exploit young trans athletes, outing them for worldwide audiences and smearing them in personal terms.
ICONS did not immediately respond to queries from Assigned Media seeking further information about its contributors and sources of funding for the three lawsuits, which the group’s press materials say it has “backed.”
Valorie Van-Dieman (she/they) is a reporter and editorial assistant at Assigned Media. @valorievandieman.bsky.social
Billie Jean Sweeney is a news editor, press freedom advocate, and trans woman.