After watching biological males win their athletic events, four young women in Connecticut stood up to the policy that cost them titles, opportunities, and potential scholarships. This week, a federal judge dismissed their case challenging the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy allowing biological males to compete in female athletics. Rather than weigh the merits of the case, the judge dismissed it as no longer relevant because the two male athletes who had been competing have since graduated. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, the four athletes are appealing the ruling.
In 2017, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) began to allow biological males who identify as female to compete in female athletic events. Very quickly, two male athletes, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood began to dominate in girls’ track and field, and young women watched by the sidelines as their athletic events were won by young men. Alliance Defending Freedom has noted that two male athletes had, between the two of them, taken 15 women’s state championship titles and more than 85 opportunities to participate in higher-level competitions from female track athletes in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons.
Selina Soule was one of the young women who lost opportunities to these young men. At 16 she missed qualifying for the 55-meter in the New England Regionals by two spots. Two of those spots were taken by Miller and Yearwood. In 2019, with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, she filed a federal complaint. She was joined by three more female athletes who had also lost opportunities — Alanna Smith, Chelsea Mitchell, and Ashley Nicoletti.
Judge Robert Chatigny, after policing the language used by the lawyers throughout the proceedings in a way that slanted the case against the four girls, dismissed the case, writing,
I conclude that the request to enjoin enforcement of the CIAC policy has become moot due to the graduation of Yearwood and Miller, whose participation in girls’ track provided the impetus for this action.
Chatigny’s argument that this is a moot case overlooks the real harm already caused – because two male athletes were competing and winning titles, the female plaintiffs were robbed of opportunities and titles.
Between the two of them, two male athletes won 15 titles and set 17 new records in just over two years. Chelsea Mitchell would have won the 2019 state championship in the women’s 55-meter indoor track competition if she had not been beaten by Miller and Yearwood. Alanna Smith would have finished second in the Women’s 200-meter at the 2019 State Outdoor Open, Ashley Nicoletti would have qualified to run in the 2019 CIAC Class S Women’s Outdoor 100-meter, and Selina Soule would have advanced to the next level of competition at the 2019 CIAC State Open Championship in the Women’s Indoor 55-meter.
Men and women are different and no amount of politically correct rhetoric can change that. Men have larger hearts and lungs than women, denser bones, and increased muscle mass. These differences show up in competition results — in a single year, two female Olympic athletes had their personal bests beaten 15,000 times by male athletes. One research team pointed out that male athletes in women’s sports have an “intolerable advantage” even if those male athletes have undergone cross-sex hormone therapy.
Ignoring the physical differences between men and women not only hurts female athletes’ competitive chances but also puts their safety at risk. Estrogen causes female ligaments to become more lax, creating a significantly higher likelihood of injury. A recent study also found that female athletes are at a higher risk for concussions than their male peers due to lower neck girth and strength. Putting female athletes, especially student athletes, in situations where they are pushing themselves to be competitive against male athletes ignores student safety.
Girls should never be forced to become spectators in their own sporting events, but allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports does just that. By dismissing this case, Judge Chatigny downplays the damage being caused by these policies. CIAC’s policy is a threat to safety and opportunity for female athletes. As these four young women continue their legal battle, it is vital that states step up and work toward policies that will protect Title IX and preserve opportunities for women and girls for years to come.
(Image: Twitter, Alliance Defending Freedom)
