US Department of Justice says gender expression not valid in high school sports

Three Connecticut high school female athletes filed a lawsuit in February against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), arguing that the state’s policy on transgender athletes has cost them top finishes in races, and even the possibility of college scholarships, according to CBS News. But now the US Department of Justice has rendered their own verdict.

The conference, which oversees all the state’s high school athletic competitions, allows athletes to compete within the gender designation with which they identify. The conference states that in so doing, they are abiding by the state laws that mandates high school students be treated “according to their gender identity.” They also argued that the policy is in line with Title IX, the federal law that permits girls equal educational opportunities, including athletics.

Attorney General William Barr responded by issuing a statement of interest on Tuesday, arguing against the CIAC. “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,” Barr and other officials wrote. “In doing so, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX.”

It has been well-documented that biological males outperform biological females in virtually every sport. One such example is CeCe Telfer, who ran track for Franklin Pierce University and was named victor in the 2019 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

“Her first place time of 57.53 seconds was far faster than the second place time of 59.21 seconds,” according to The American Conservative. “Telfer ran for the Division II men’s team for the first three years of her college track & field career, and never made it to nationals in the men’s category.”

Attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the two transgender athletes in Connecticut, and communicated that they were deeply troubled that the US government would “make clear that it does not believe girls who are trans enjoy protections under federal law.”

The ACLU and its attorneys have yet to comment on the possibility that biological female’s safety is legitimately put at risk in facing trans-athletes. It has already happened in the UK, where Rugby refs have left the pitch rather than watch biological females face serious injury by trans-athletes. It is clear that biological girls are exempted from the ACLU’s concern about the future of female athletics.

Each state in the US has its own interpretation of Title IX, and each has come to its own conclusion. Some states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Texas require that a student compete against the sex that is documented on their birth certificate.

Nineteen states allow transgender students “to opt in to the sex segregated sport of their choosing without any criteria having to be met.” This inconsistency means that athletes from certain states who attend nationals will possibly be competing against trans-athletes, who are not allowed to compete by category of gender expression in their home state.

“Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls—that’s the reason we have girls sports in the first place,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Christiana Holcomb said Wednesday. “And a male’s belief about his gender doesn’t eliminate those advantages.”