Last month, The Daily Citizen brought you the story of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s (CIAC) policy that allows biological males who believe themselves to be women to compete in women’s high school sports. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), on behalf of several female students, had submitted a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging illegal discrimination on the basis of Title IX.
On August 7, the OCR announced that it would begin investigating ADF’s complaint which “alleges that the CIAC’s policy permitting transgender athletes to participate in interscholastic athletics based on their gender identification… discriminates against girls.” The OCR will be investigating three areas:
- “Whether the CIAC and the District have denied equal athletic benefits and opportunities to girls.”
- “Whether the CIAC retaliated against Complainant 1 for her advocacy against the Transgender Participation Policy.”
- “Whether the District retaliated against Student 2 for her… advocacy against the Transgender Participation Policy… when Student 2’s track coach replaced [her] on the sprint medley relay team… told [her] and her parents that he could not give a good report to college coaches about her, and denied [her] a position as a team captain.”
This is important news from the OCR because many young women have lost out on athletic opportunities, championships, and potential scholarships because men, who are biologically stronger and faster, keep winning the women’s races.
The complaint from ADF states that “as a result of CIAC’s policy, two biological males, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, were permitted to compete in girls’ athletic competitions… Between them, they have taken 15 women’s state championship titles (titles held in 2016 by ten different Connecticut girls) and have taken more than 40 opportunities to participate in higher level competitions from female track athletes.”
The Daily Signal interviewed one of the female students, Selina Soule, who was courageous enough to come forward and file the complaint, with ADF’s help. Soule said, “It’s very frustrating and heartbreaking when us girls are at the start of the race and we already know that these athletes are going to come out and win no matter how hard you try… they took away the spots of deserving girls, athletes… me being included.”
It is encouraging to see the OCR begin to investigate the CIAC’s policies allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports. These types of policies, under the guise of acceptance and tolerance, are on the verge of erasing much of the progress that women have fought for over the last century.
Title IX was created to provide equal opportunities for girls and women in education and sports. The NCAA says that, “Title IX requires that the men and women’s program receive the same level of service, facilities, [and] supplies.”
However, allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports destroys these gains that Title IX brought for women. Permitting men to compete in women’s sports essentially eliminates opportunities that biological females have to win awards, compete in championships, and acquire scholarships for college.
Indeed, last year ABC News reported on a video of a track meet which showed “transgender high school sophomores Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood [come] in first and second place, respectively, in the 100-meter race at the State Open Finals.” The video shows Miller and Yearwood easily beating out all of the biological women in the race.
While we hope the policy is ultimately reversed, women’s sports also face a growing threat from the United States Congress. Earlier this year, Democrats introduced the Equality Act in the House of Representatives which would insert “sexual orientation and gender identity” as protected categories in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal non-discrimination laws. Effectively, this would end women’s sports.
Shockingly, every single Democratic member of the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, which passed out of the House 236-173.
The Heritage Foundation has warned that if the bill were ever to be signed into law, it would “ultimately lead to the erasure of women by dismantling sex-specific facilities, sports, and other female-only spaces… [and] would defeat the entire purpose of Title IX, which was meant to ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men including in sports, and would leave women vulnerable to sexual assault.”
As the OCR begins its investigation, let’s all pray it reaffirms what mankind has known for all time. Men and women are biologically different, and should be treated as such.
Focus on the Family has many resources for parents wondering how to discuss these issues with their children.
Photo from Alliance Defending Freedom
