Attorneys representing three female Connecticut high school athletes in a case over whether biological males can participate in women’s sports have asked the presiding judge to recuse himself after he banned them from calling the transgender athletes “males.”
This case revolves around two high school biological males, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who have participated in girls’ track and field. Together, these two biological males have taken 15 state championship titles and 85 opportunities to compete at higher levels away from biological females.
In order to protect women’s sports, attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on behalf of Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell and Alanna Smith. All three girls have been bested in numerous races by Miller and Yearwood. The CIAC policy allows for biological males who believe themselves to be female to compete in women’s sports, despite inherent biological advantages over their female competitors.
In the court transcript obtained by National Review, U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny told attorneys who represent the female athletes the following on an April 16 conference call:
“What I’m saying is you must refer to them as ‘transgender females’ rather than as ‘males.’ Again, that’s the more accurate terminology, and I think that it fully protects your client’s legitimate interests. Referring to these individuals as ‘transgender females’ is consistent with science, common practice and perhaps human decency. To refer to them as ‘males,’ period, is not accurate, certainly not as accurate, and I think it’s needlessly provocative. So, going forward, we will not refer to the proposed intervenors as ‘males’; understood?”
Responding to Judge Chatigny’s request, lead attorney for ADF responded as follows:
“The entire focus of the case is the fact that the CIAC policy allows individuals who are physiologically, genetically male to compete in girls’ athletics. The point of this case is physiology of bodies driven by chromosomes and the documented athletic advantage that comes from a male body, male hormones, and male puberty in particular. So, Your Honor, I do have a concern that I am not adequately representing my client and I’m not accurately representing their position in this case as it has to be argued before Your Honor if I refer to these individuals as ‘female,’ because that’s simply, when we’re talking about physiology, that’s not accurate.”
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Josh Block, argued on Twitter that the ADF attorneys wanted to refer to the transgender athletes as “males” just to be rude. “ADF sued Connecticut schools to kick our clients off the girls’ track team because they are trans. The judge said that ADF is free to argue about alleged physical advantages from typically male puberty, but they were being needlessly rude by referring to them constantly as males,” Block said.
However, the attorneys at ADF contend that referring to the transgender athletes as “males” is integral to their argument in the case. The ADF attorneys say that they must refer to the transgender athletes as “males” precisely because they are biological males with inherent advantages over their female competitors, which is what their case rests upon.
Additionally, they contend that this statement by Judge Chatigny shows he is biased and has prejudged one of the most pertinent matters in the case. For this reason, ADF has filed a motion for Judge Chatigny to disqualify himself.
The Daily Citizen originally covered this case when ADF filed a lawsuit against the CIAC in February, 2020.
The case is Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools.
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