A lawsuit filed on Thursday by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) representing four former Connecticut female athletes is challenging a state policy that allowed transgender athletes to compete in women's sports.
The state of Connecticut's Department of Education has utilized Title IX to protect transgender athletes arguing that it would be sexual discrimination under federal law.
ADF disagrees, however, arguing that the inclusion of boys in women's sports deprives female athletes of opportunities.
“Girls deserve the same opportunity as boys to excel in athletics. Allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports, as we see happening in Connecticut and elsewhere, deprives girls of the opportunity to be champions, showcase their talents, and potentially earn college scholarships,” said ADF Senior Counsel Christiana Kiefer. “All female athletes deserve to compete on a fair playing field, and we are urging the court to ensure respect for their right to equal treatment and opportunity in sports.”
“Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls; Title IX’s whole purpose was to ensure that girls had equal athletic opportunities to compete—and win—in girls’ sports events,” said ADF Senior Counsel Roger Brooks. “And when our laws and policies fail to recognize the real physical differences between males and females, women and girls bear the brunt of the harm.”
“It’s our hope that the 2nd Circuit will give the young women we represent the right to pursue their case and put women’s sports back on a level playing field,” he explained.
In an interview with Fox News, Selina Soule spoke about the hardships of having to compete with men in their races.
“I lost out on qualifying spots for the meets, better placement, and possibly even scholarship opportunities,” the former athlete said. “It was a very frustrating and heartbreaking thing to have to go through.”
The athletes' lawyers argue that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference would “require a retroactive correction of records if a record is found to have been achieved in violation of the CIAC rules.”
These records we contend were achieved not in violation of the rule,” said ADF attorney Roger Brooks, “but in violation of the law, which is an even worse violation,” per Breitbart.
“As a result of the CIAC’s policy, two males were permitted to compete in girls’ athletic competitions beginning in the 2017 track season,” the ADF explained. “Between them, they took 15 women’s state championship titles (titles held in 2016 by nine different Connecticut girls) and more than 85 opportunities to participate in higher level competitions from female track athletes in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons alone.”
Transgender athletes have repeatedly usurped the records and progress of women in sports and this lawsuit will hopefully be a step in the right direction for bringing back sanity to the world of sports.
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