by Four former Connecticut high school athletes are suing the state over its policy allowing transgender students to participate in women’s sports.
Selina Soule, one of four female track and field athletes at the center of the lawsuit, told Fox News that Connecticut’s policy on transgender athletes is “unfair” and puts female athletes at a disadvantage.
The Connecticut Department of Education has protected transgender students from discrimination since 2017, arguing that they are protected by Title IX, a law that prohibits schools that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of gender.
(L-R) Chelsea Mitchell, Selina Soule and Alanna Smith, three former Connecticut high school track and field athletes, listen during an “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022 , in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Soule also discussed the negative consequences of allowing boys to play girls’ sports.
“I lost meet qualifiers, best placement and possibly even scholarship opportunities,” Soule told Fox News.
“It was a very disappointing and heartbreaking thing to go through,” he added.
The lawsuit against Connecticut was initially dismissed last year by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny, who ruled that the case was “her own” because the two transgender record-setting athletes in women’s sports had already graduated from high school.
However, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing the four former Connecticut track and field athletes in an appeal. The case is now before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston heard arguments from both sides on Thursday.
Canton High School senior Chelsea Mitchel speaks during a news conference with Danbury High School sophomore Alanna Smith, left, and Glastonbury High School senior Selina Soule, right, at the Connecticut State Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. , in downtown Hartford, Conn. (Kassi Jackson/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
ADF attorneys argued that Connecticut’s policy violates Title IX and also sought to sideline the championships of two transgender track and field athletes, Connecticut Insider reported.
The plaintiff’s attorneys argued that Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rules “require retroactive correction of records if a record is found to have been achieved in violation of CIAC rules.”
“These records that we are advocating were obtained not in violation of the rule but in violation of the law, which is an even worse violation,” said ADF attorney Roger Brooks.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him Twitter.
