We recently learned of a victory in a court battle over attempts by the government to force doctors to perform “gender-affirming” surgery on patients. But a separate case in Connecticut went the other way on Friday. Alliance Defending Freedom has been fighting a rule imposed by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) allowing boys who “identify” as girls to compete in girls’ high school track and field events for several years. They brought the suit on behalf of four actual high school girls (who are now adults) who protested the fact that they had been bumped out of the running and the opportunity for collegiate scholarships by two boys who set new state records in multiple girls’ events. But a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that barring the trans athletes would be a violation of Title IX, supporting a ruling by a lower court that found against the plaintiffs for a different reason. (The Hill)
This ongoing case is centered on two former trans high school athletes, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who we’ve been writing about here since 2018. The boys broke several girls’ track and field records when competing, leading to the parents of four of the actual girls filing a lawsuit. A lower court found in favor of the CIAC last year, saying that the case was “moot” because both boys graduated in 2020 and were not competing in sports in college.
But that’s really not the point, is it? What’s at issue here is the question of federal and state governments interpreting an Obama-era declaration regarding Title IX, claiming that discrimination rules apply to “gender identity” as part of a broader ban on discrimination based on sex.
