A lawsuit filed earlier this week by three female high school runners in Connecticut has gotten a lot of attention as they seek to block transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports.
The suit claims that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy allows “biological boys” to beat them at track events and deprives them of possible scholarships.
“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” ADF attorney Christiana Holcomb said in a statement. “Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams and destroys their athletic opportunities.”
Holcomb is representing high school track athletes Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell and Alanna Smith.
As a result of CIAC’s first implemented its policy in 2017 allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete alongside girls, two athletes born “biologically male” have “taken 12 women’s state championship titles” previously held by nine different girls, Holcomb said.
“It is not fair for any boy to compete against girls,” Smith, the daughter of former Major League pitcher Lee Smith, said during Wednesday’s press conference. “That biological unfairness doesn’t go away because of what someone believes about gender identity.”
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“It’s simply about fairness of play,” she said.
The students are trying to stop the policy, while CIAC officials said it would respond after reviewing it.
“The CIAC believes that its current policy is appropriate under both state and federal law, and it has been defending that policy in the complaint that was filed previously with the Office of Civil Rights,” the organization said in a statement.
The lawsuit cites two transgender high school athletes — Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood.
“I will never stop being me!” Yearwood said. “I will never stop running! I hope that the next generations of trans youth doesn’t have to fight the fights that I have.”
