By AFP Staff
On Feb. 12, the families of three high-school girls sued the state of Connecticut to bar transgender athletes from being able to compete in girls’ sports. The nation will be watching this case closely, as a federal court will now be forced to decide if, in fact, changing gender one day and “identifying” as a “girl” means you get to change your sex, too.
The families of Selina Soule from Glastonbury High School, Chelsea Mitchell from Canton High School, and Alanna Smith from Danbury High School are being represented by conservative nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom.
They contend that athletes, who are biologically male, have a physical advantage over biological females in physical sports and it is unfair to allow them the right to compete with girls. They argue that they have been deprived of track titles and even scholarship opportunities.
Here is a report from a local media outlet that covered the girls’ press conference:
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The case revolves specifically around two transgender athletes, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who regularly beat female competitors. One of the girls in the lawsuit, Mitchell, finished third in the 2019 state championship in the girls 55-meter indoor track competition behind Miller and Yearwood. She would have won the state finals had it not been for the two transgender athletes.
The unfortunate reality is that most states in the U.S. do not have any laws that deal with transgender athletes. Connecticut happens to be one of 17 states that allows transgender athletes to compete without restrictions in high-school sporting events. Eight other states have imposed some restrictions that make it more difficult for transgender athletes to compete while in school. These include requiring athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificate or allowing them to participate only after going through medical procedures or taking hormone therapies.
While trans advocates argue that transgender students should be treated fairly and allowed to compete openly wherever they choose, the problem only seems to involve girls’ sports. So-called transgender male students do not ever do as well as transgender females—and the answer, obviously, lies in the inherent physical advantages that males have over females. Even transgender girls (former males), who take estrogen, have still benefited from years of biology affording them more muscle mass, higher bone density, and even greater lung capacity than females.
The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting the girls’ case, arguing that the transgender students are protected by a complicated set of rules known as Title IX that states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
AFP will continue to watch this case very closely, as advocates increasingly conflate gender with biological sex.
