Civilrights probe opened into transgender policy

The federal Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into Connecticut’s policy that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify.

The investigation was announced in a letter Wednesday from the arm of the U.S. Department of Education. It follows a complaint in June by the families of three girls, who say they were discriminated against by having to compete in track events against two athletes who were identified as male at birth and who they say have “male hormone levels and musculature.”

The complaint was submitted on the girls’ behalf by lawyers for the conservative nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which contends the transgender girls have an unfair physical advantage and that the state policy violates Title IX, the federal law designed to ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in education, including athletics.

“Girls should never be simply spectators in their own sport; they deserve to compete on a fair playing field,” said Selina Soule, a Glastonbury High School sprinter, who consistently has finished behind the two transgender athletes in state championships.

The Connecticut Association of SchoolsConnecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has said its policy follows a state antidiscrimination law that says students must be treated in school by the gender with which they identify.