A federal judge has dismissed a high-profile lawsuit seeking to bar transgender athletes from competing in high school girls sports. The case drew national attention in 2020 as some 20 other states started debating laws to restrict transgender athletes from participating in school sports.
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration withdrew federal support for the case against the trans athletes, which the previous administration had been pushing.
The 27-page decision to drop the case came on Sunday, April 25, from US District Court Judge Robert Chatigny. In it, the judge found “that Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller, both transgender athletes, had already graduated and it was unlikely the plaintiffs would have to compete against transgender athletes in the following season,” reports The News Times, a Danbury–based newspaper.
“I conclude that the plaintiffs’ challenge to the [Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference] policy is not justiciable at this time and their claims for monetary relief are barred and dismiss the action on this basis without addressing the other grounds raised in the joint motion,” wrote the judge.
Back in February 2020, the families of three high school track team runners filed the suit to exclude transgender female athletes from participating in girls sports — despite a state law that requires all students to be treated according to the gender they identify with.
A month later, former US Attorney General Barr weighed in arguing against the state’s policy to follow this law. And in late May 2020 the US Dept. of Education’s civil rights office sent a 45-page letter to the state threatening to withhold federal funding unless Connecticut schools went against state law and barred transgender girls from participating in girls sports.
That fall, at the start of the current school year, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong fired back at the Trump administration, stating, “Transgender girls are girls, full stop. The Office of the Attorney General will continue to defend every Connecticut resident, including our transgender residents, against discrimination, hate and bigotry.”
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