Supreme Court Gender Classifications in Equal Protection

In the context of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, various Supreme Court cases have explored the limits and applications of this clause.

One significant area of ongoing legal debate concerns the classifications used by states when creating laws that may discriminate against certain groups. In the case of United States v. Virginia (1996), the Supreme Court scrutinized a state policy that aimed to exclude women from attending a military institution. The ruling emphasized the standard of intermediate scrutiny in evaluating gender classifications. Applying this decision, consider the implications of the Supreme Court's analysis regarding not just gender discrimination, but also how this standard can influence other forms of discrimination under equal protection.

Given this context, which of the following statements most accurately reflects the Court's stance on equal protection as it pertains to classifications made based on gender?