The US Justice Department is weighing in on the federal case filed by the families of three Connecticut high school girls to block transgender athletes from competing in high school girls sports.
As we reported in February, the families of the three high school track team runners filed the federal lawsuit on Feb. 12 to exclude transgender female athletes from participating in girls sports despite a state law allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.
According to a March 26 ESPN report, “Attorney General William Barr signed what is known as a statement of interest [on March 25], arguing against the policy of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference [CIAC], the board that oversees the state’s high school athletic competitions.”
Back in June, when the original complaint was filed, the Boston Globe explained, “The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports in the state, says its policy follows a state anti-discrimination law requiring students to be treated in school according to the gender with which they identify. That means that athletes can compete according to their expressed gender identity as opposed to their sex assigned at birth.”
ESPN reported yesterday that Attorney General Barr and other Department officials wrote in their statement of interest, “Under CIAC’s interpretation of Title IX, however, schools may not account for the real physiological differences between men and women. Instead, schools must have certain biological males—namely, those who publicly identify as female—compete against biological females. In so doing, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX.”
Says ESPN:
“‘Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girl—that’s the reason we have girls sports in the first place,” [the Connecticut families’] attorney, Christiana Holcomb, said Wednesday. ‘And a male’s belief about his gender doesn’t eliminate those advantages.”
“Messages seeking comment were left Wednesday with the attorneys representing the CIAC, other defendants and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the two transgender girls who run track in Connecticut.
“The spring track season is on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but CIAC officials have put off a decision on whether to cancel it.
“Holcomb has said that because the lawsuit also asks for changes to the state record book, the lawsuit will go forward even if it is not resolved before the seniors graduate.”
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