Lawyers eye dismissal of lawsuit on transgender athlete policy

Judge expects to make decision in a few weeks

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny listened to arguments on Friday from lawyers representing the Connecticut Interscholastic

Athletic Conference seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the families of female track athletes last February which would prevent transgender female athletes from participating in girls high school sports in Connecticut.

Chatigny said that he would have a decision in a few weeks after hearing presentations from both sides of the lawsuit.

The intent of the lawsuit, filed by the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the athletes, is to reverse a CIAC policy that allows athletes to participate in sports corresponding with their gender identity and instead, would require athletes to compete based on their birth sex, as well as result in changes to state track records set by transgender female runners. The CIAC has stated that it is following state law, which prevents discrimination against people who are transgender. The cisgender female track athletes had previously filed a Title IX complaint against the CIACand school districts in which the transgender girls competed.

“The CIAC has always maintained that our inclusive sports policy complies with federal and state law,” CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini said. “We look forward to receiving a ruling from the court.”

Lawyers for both sides argued via Zoom call, with the plaintiffs’ lawyer Roger Brooks citing that the cisgender females were denied

opportunities to advance in track competitions and that meaningful competition for girls under the auspices of Title IX included having a chance to win.

“Too many policymakers are giving into to an ideology that ignores biological reality and denies equal opportunity for women,” Brooks, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a Zoom call following his court appearance. “The ACLU today continued to argue in favor of that trend in the courtroom. They asked the judge to uphold ideology instead of science.”

The defendants’ lawyers said that the current policy doesn’t deny girls opportunities to compete, and that the use of Title IX by the plaintiffs in this instance was skewed.

“Title IX doesn’t support the claims the plaintiffs are making,” defense attorney Joshua Block said during the hearing. “There is a three-part test for accommodation claims and they’re trying to fit their claims into that three-part test and it doesn’t apply. No court has ever defined a participation opportunity as winning an equal amount of trophies.”

Earlier this week, the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights removed support for the lawsuit. Former Attorney General William Barr had signed a statement of interest in the lawsuit last March.

Also this week, the Office of Civil Rights withdrew its enforcement action against the CIAC and its member schools named in the Title IX complaint. The complaint was filed in June of 2019 by the same group of female track athletes who claimed that two transgender female athletes, Bloomfield’s Terry Miller and Cromwell’s Andraya Yearwood, had an athletic advantage and were denying cisgender girls spots in the State Open or New England championships as well chances to perform in front of college coaches at higher-level competitions. The defense attorneys argued Friday that the transgender runners had not beaten the cisgender runners in every instance.

Last May, the Office of Civil Rights found that policies implemented by the CI AC and school districts named in a Title IX complaint violated Title IX, and that federal funding could be withheld if the CIAC and school districts fail to comply. The lawsuit was subsequently filed in February 2020.

“I was fortunate enough to find a spot on a college track team but I worry about how many girls had their dreams destroyed just because they are forced to compete against a biological male and lost,” said Selina Soule, one of the plaintiffs who is a former Glastonbury runner now competing at the College of Charleston, following the hearing. “I don’t want other girls to experience the pain and heartbreak I had to go through.”

On a national level, President Joe Biden pledged support for transgender students and their access to sports and bathrooms and issued an executive order on preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation on Jan. 20, a day after he took office.

Earlier this month, the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, a national group of female athletes and women’s sports advocates, released recommendations which included the participation of transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports if they met certain qualifications.