Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 22-28:
June 22: Actor Klaus Maria Brandauer is 82. Journalist Brit Hume is 82. Singer Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon is 81. Singer Howard “Eddie” Kaylan of The Turtles is 78. Singer Todd Rundgren is 77. Singer Alan Osmond of The Osmonds is 76. Actor Meryl Streep is 76. Actor Lindsay Wagner (“The Bionic Woman”) is 76. Actor Graham Greene (“Dances With Wolves”) is 73. Singer Cyndi Lauper is 72. Actor Chris Lemmon (“Airport ‘77”) is 71. Bassist Derek Forbes (Simple Minds) is 69. Bassist Garry Beers of INXS is 68. Actor Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead,” “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.”) is 67. Bassist Alan Anton of Cowboy Junkies is 66. Actor Tracy Pollan (“Family Ties”) is 65. Keyboardist Jimmy Somerville (Bronski Beat) is 64. Actor Amy Brenneman is 61. Singer Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones is 61. Singer Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies) is 55. Actor Michael Trucco (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Battlestar Galactica”) is 55. Actor Mary Lynn Rajskub (“24″) is 54. TV personality Carson Daly is 52. Guitarist Chris Traynor (Helmet) is 52. Actor Donald Faison (“Scrubs”) is 51. Actor Lecy Goranson (“The Connors,” “Roseanne”) is 51. Comedian Mike O’Brien (“Saturday Night Live”) is 49. TV personality Jai Rodriguez (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) is 46. Actor Lindsay Ridgeway (“Boy Meets World”) is 40. Singer Dinah Jane (Fifth Harmony) is 28.
June 23: Singer Diana Trask is 85. Actor Ted Shackelford (“Knots Landing”) is 79. Actor Bryan Brown (“The Thorn Birds”) is 78. Actor Jim Metzler (“North and South”) is 74. Former “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is 69. Actor Frances McDormand is 68. Drummer Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth is 63. Director Joss Whedon (“The Avengers,” ″Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) is 61. Singer Chico DeBarge is 55. Actor Selma Blair is 53. Actor Joel Edgerton (“Loving”) is 51. Singer KT Tunstall is 50. Singer Virgo Williams of Ghost Town DJs is 50. Actor Emmanuelle Vaugier (“Two and a Half Men”) is 49. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 48. Actor Melissa Rauch (“The Big Bang Theory”) is 45. Singer Duffy is 41.
June 24: Singer Arthur Brown is 83. Actor Michele Lee is 83. Actor-director Georg Stanford Brown (“The Rookies”) is 82. Singer Colin Blunstone of The Zombies is 80. Drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is 78. Actor Peter Weller is 78. Bassist John Illsley of Dire Straits is 76. Actor Nancy Allen (“RoboCop,” “Carrie”) is 75. Reggae singer Derrick Simpson of Black Uhuru is 75. Actor Joe Penny (“Jake and the Fatman,” ″Riptide”) is 69. Singer-keyboardist Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is 66. Musician Siedah Garrett is 65. Actor Iain Glen (“Game of Thrones”) is 64. Bassist Curt Smith of Tears for Fears is 64. Actor Danielle Spencer (“What’s Happening”) is 60. Actor Sherry Stringfield (“ER”) is 58. Singer Glenn Medeiros is 55. Actor Carla Gallo (“Bones”) is 50. Actor Amir Talai (“LA to Vegas”) is 48. Actor Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project,” ″The Office”) is 46. Actor Minka Kelly is 45. Actor Vanessa Ray (“Blue Bloods”) is 44. Actor Justin Hires (2016′s “MacGyver,” ″Rush Hour”) is 40. Actor Candice Patton (TV’s “The Flash”) is 40. Singer Solange Knowles is 39. Actor Max Ehrich (“The Young and the Restless,” ″Under the Dome”) is 34. Actor Beanie Feldstein (“Lady Bird”) is 32.
June 25: Actor June Lockhart is 100. Singer Eddie Floyd is 88. Actor Barbara Montgomery (“Amen,” ″The Women of Brewster Place”) is 86. Actor Mary Beth Peil (“The Good Wife,” ″Dawson’s Creek”) is 85. Singer Carly Simon is 82. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 78. Director-actor Michael Lembeck (directed “Santa Clause,” acted in “One Day at a Time”) is 77. Singer Tim Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House is 73. Keyboardist David Paich of Toto is 71. Actor Michael Sabatino (“NYPD Blue”) is 70. Actor-comedian Ricky Gervais is 64. Actor John Benjamin Hickey (“The Big C”) is 62. Actor Erica Gimpel (TV’s “Fame,” ″Profiler”) is 61. Rapper Richie Rich is 58. Guitarist Sean Kelly (Sixpence None the Richer) is 54. Actor Angela Kinsey (“The Office”) is 54. Bassist Mike Kroeger of Nickelback is 53. Actor Linda Cardellini (“ER,” ″Scooby Doo”) is 50. Actor Busy Philipps (“ER,” ″Dawson’s Creek”) is 46.
June 26: Jazz pianist Dave Grusin is 91. Singer Billy Davis Jr. of the Fifth Dimension is 87. Singer Georgie Fame is 82. Actor Clive Francis (“The Crown”) is 79. Singer Brenda Holloway is 79. Actor Michael Paul Chan (“The Closer”) is 75. Actor Robert Davi (“Profiler”) is 74. Musician Mick Jones of The Clash is 70. Actor Gedde Watanabe (“ER,” ″Sixteen Candles”) is 70. Singer Chris Isaak is 69. Singer Patty Smyth is 68. Singer Terri Nunn of Berlin is 66. Singer Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays is 62. Guitarist Eddie Perez of The Mavericks is 57. Bassist Colin Greenwood of Radiohead is 56. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (“Magnolia,” ″Boogie Nights”) is 55. Actor Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”) is 55. Actor Matt Letscher (“Eli Stone,” ″The New Adventures of Old Christine”) is 55. Actor Chris O’Donnell is 55. Actor Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) is 55. Keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein of Newsboys is 51. Singer Gretchen Wilson is 51. Drummer Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon is 46. Singer Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic is 46. Actor Jason Schwartzman (“Slackers,” ″Rushmore”) is 45. Actor Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”) is 41. Actor Jennette McCurdy (“iCarly”) is 33. Singer-actor Ariana Grande is 32.
June 27: Singer Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys is 83. Actor Julia Duffy (“Newhart”) is 74. Actor Isabelle Adjani is 70. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 66. Writer-director J.J. Abrams (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” ″Alias”) is 59. Singer Draco Rosa (Menudo) is 56. Actor Edward “Grapevine” Fordham Jr. (“Battle Creek”) is 55. TV personality Jo Frost (“Supernanny”) is 54. Actor Yancey Arias (“Kingpin”) is 54. Actor Christian Kane (“Leverage,” “The Librarians”) is 53. Actor Tobey Maguire is 50. Singer Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer is 49. Christian rock singer Zach Williams is 47. Reality star Khloe Kardashian is 41. Actor Drake Bell (“Drake and Josh”) is 39. Actor Sam Claflin (“Hunger Games” films) is 39. Actor Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”) is 38. Actor Matthew Lewis (“Harry Potter” films) is 36. Actor Madylin Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 34. Singer Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony is 29. Singer H.E.R. is 28. Actor Chandler Riggs (“The Walking Dead”) is 26.
June 28: Comedian-director Mel Brooks is 99. Comedian John Byner is 88. Bassist Dave Knights of Procol Harum is 80. Actor Bruce Davison (“X-Men”) is 79 Actor Kathy Bates is 77. Actor Alice Krige is 71. Jazz singer Tierney Sutton is 62. Guitarist-violinist Saul Davies of James is 60. Actor Jessica Hecht (“Friends,” ″The Single Guy”) is 60. Actor John Cusack is 59. Actor Mary Stuart Masterson is 59. Actor Gil Bellows (“The Agency,” “Ally McBeal”) is 58. Actor Tichina Arnold (“The Neighborhood,” “Everybody Hates Chris”) is 56. Actor-songwriter Danielle Brisebois (“All in the Family”) is 56. Jazz saxophonist Jimmy Sommers is 56. Actor Steve Burton (“The Young and the Restless”) is 55. Bassist Tim Nordwind of OK Go is 49. Bassist Mark Stoermer of The Killers is 48. Singer and former “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler is 39.
Beanie Feldstein attends the Chanel Tribeca Festival luncheon to celebrate the Through Her Lens women's filmmaker program at The Greenwich Hotel Courtyard on Friday, June 6, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.
West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.
The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.
Decisions are expected by early summer.
President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.
Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.
“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”
She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.
Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.
She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.
Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.
“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.
Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.
The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.
About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.
"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”
But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.
“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”
Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”
“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.
One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.
Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”
The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.
The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.
The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.
The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.
If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.
“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)
