Truth Bomb: Department of Education Said CT Policy Allowing Boys to Compete With Girls in Sports Violates Title IX

Connecticut enacted a “transgender” policy to allow boys pretending to be girls to compete with girls in sports. That means girls don’t have a fair opportunity to actually win athletic competitions. Males generally are stronger and faster than females, as high school track runners Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell know all too well.

Each of these girls has lost track races to boys calling themselves “transgender.” Soule missed out on a regional final because the boys running against her knocked her out of contention. Alanna Smith knows she’ll lose to the boys. Chelsea Mitchell would have come in first place in a state championship in the women’s 55-meter indoor track competition. One male won first place, and the other won second place.

All three filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and a lawsuit against Connecticut alleging violation of Title IX of the federal code. Title IX guarantees equal opportunity for women in education. That opportunity doesn’t exist if women have to complete physically with men.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the girls, announced on Thursday that the ED has made a decision about the complaint. From the OCR’s letter (PDF):

“OCR determined that the CIAC [Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference], by permitting the participation of certain male student-athletes in the state of Connecticut, pursuant to the Revised Transgender Participation Policy, denied female student-athletes athletic benefits and opportunities, including advancing to the finals in events, higher level competitions, awards, medals, recognition, and the possibility of greater visibility to colleges and other benefits. Accordingly, OCR determined that the CIAC denied athletic benefits and opportunities to female student-athletes competing in interscholastic girls’ track in the state of Connecticut through the revised Transgender Participation Policy, in violation of the regulation implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), at 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(a).”

OCR also found that the government treated the student-athletes differently based on sex by denying the girls benefits and opportunities available to the boys.

Mitchell said she’s “extremely happy and relieved to learn that OCR found the CIAC and the school districts violated Title IX. It feels like we are finally headed in the right direction, and that we will be able to get justice for the countless girls along with myself that have faced discrimination for years. It is liberating to know that my voice, my story, my loss, has been heard; that those championships I lost mean something. Finally, the government has recognized that women deserve the right to compete for victory, and nothing less.”

Earlier this month, the ADF asked the judge in the case to recuse himself after he told ADF’s legal team not to refer to the “transgender” male athletes as males during a hearing. The lead lawyer told the judge that the “entire focus of the case has to do with the fact that male bodies have a physiological advantage over female bodies that gives them an unfair advantage to competition.” The judge “destroyed the appearance of impartiality in this proceeding.”

Photo credit: Alliance Defending Freedom