Four former Connecticut high school female athletes are suing the state for its policy allowing transgender students to participate in women’s sports.
Selina Soule, one of four track athletes at the center of the lawsuit, told Fox News that Connecticut’s transgender athlete policy is “unfair” and disadvantages female athletes.
Connecticut’s Department of Education has protected transgender students from discrimination since 2017, arguing that they are protected under Title IX, a law prohibiting schools that receive federal funding from discriminating based on sex.
(L-R) Chelsea Mitchell, Selina Soule, and Alanna Smith, three former Connecticut high school track athletes, listen during an “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Soule also discussed the negative consequences of allowing boys to play girls’ sports.
“I lost out on qualifying spots for the meets, better placement, and possibly even scholarship opportunities,” Soule told Fox News.
“It was a very frustrating and heartbreaking thing to have to go through,” she added.
The lawsuit against Connecticut was initially thrown out last year by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny, who ruled the case was “moot” because the two transgender athletes who set records in women’s sports had already graduated high school.
However, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) represents the four former Connecticut track athletes in an appeal. The case is now being heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston heard arguments from both sides on Thursday.
Canton High School senior Chelsea Mitchel speaks during a press conference with Alanna Smith, Danbury High School sophomore, to her left and Selina Soule, Glastonbury High School senior, to her right at the Connecticut State Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in downtown Hartford, Conn. (Kassi Jackson/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
ADF lawyers argued Connecticut’s policy violates Title IX and also sought to set aside two transgender athletes’ championship records in track and field, the Connecticut Insider reported.
The plaintiff’s lawyers argued that Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rules “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 but in violation of the law, which is an even worse violation,” ADF attorney Roger Brooks said.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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