Plaintiffs & ADF attorney in case (September 29, 2022 file photo by Dawn Ennis)
A federal appeals court reversed a decision by a U.S. district judge in Connecticut, green-lighting a lawsuit that seeks to end a longstanding state policy that allows female transgender student-athletes to compete with cisgender girls.
The case now returns to federal court in Connecticut, and will be decided by the same man who tossed it out, U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny. He dismissed the lawsuit in April because all four plaintiffs — cisgender track and field athletes — are no longer high school students.
Although the narrowly-decided ruling by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit restores their suit, it did not answer the primary question the four women have asked: Whether the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy allowing student-athletes to compete according to their gender identity violates Title IX of U.S. civil rights law.
The federal appeals court also did not address potential financial compensation sought by the plaintiffs. Those decisions are now in Chatigny’s hands.
What the reinstated suit could do, however, is force the CIAC to abandon its transgender participation policy and ban transgender female athletes from competing in the state with cisgender girls and women. The plaintiffs also demand the CIAC rewrite history by erasing all records set by trans athletes in Connecticut.
“The CIAC’s policy degraded each of their accomplishments and scarred their athletic records, irreparably harming each female athlete’s interest in accurate recognition of her athletic achievements,” said Roger Brooks, special counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the religious conservative law group suing on behalf of the four women – Selena Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith and Ansley Nicoletti. All four have since gone on to compete in college sports. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the ADF as an extremist hate group for its anti-LGBTQ+ activism.
One of the judges on the appeals court who dissented with the majority opinion made some critical observations. Circuit Judge Denny Chin noted that three of the cisgender athletes alleged that only one track event in their high school careers was affected by the participation of transgender athletes while a fourth athlete alleged that four championship races were affected.
Chin wrote that all four plaintiffs not only compete on collegiate track-and-field teams, some were awarded scholarships, while neither of the transgender athletes who are misgendered in the case as “male athletes” have competed since high school.
In a statement Dec. 15, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation of Connecticut claimed the ruling is a victory for the two runners they represent — Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller — noting that the 2nd Circuit wrote that the transgender runners have an “ongoing interest in litigating against any alteration of their public athletic records.”
Also important to note, as the Los Angeles Blade has reported, is that the plaintiffs repeatedly outran the trans athletes, even after they filed their lawsuit in 2022. “The facts are that these plaintiffs repeatedly outperformed Andraya and Terry and won an impressive collection of first place trophies in the process,” said ACLU attorney Joshua Block.
The Alliance Defending Freedom also claimed victory Dec. 15. “The en banc 2nd Circuit was right to allow these brave women to make their case under Title IX and set the record straight,” Brooks said. “This is imperative not only for the women who have been deprived of medals, potential scholarships, and other athletic opportunities, but for all female athletes across the country.”
In his dissent, Judge Chin pointed out that the plaintiffs failed to cite any precedent in which a sports governing body retroactively stripped an athlete of accomplishments when the athlete complied with all existing rules and did not cheat or take an illegal substance.
“It is not the business of the federal courts to grant such relief,” Chin said.
At least 20 states have already enacted bans on trans student-athletes, with more waiting in the wings.
The Biden administration has proposed a policy to forbid blanket bans on transgender athletes playing on K-12 and collegiate sports teams. Although there have been delays and push back from both Republicans and advocacy groups for cisgender athletes, that new rule is set to be finalized by March 2024. It would establish that blanket bans violate Title IX, the landmark gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972 which requires schools receiving federal money to provide equal athletic opportunity to women.
Connecticut State Attorney General William Tong issued a statement Dec. 15, noting that while Connecticut was not a party to the lawsuit, “…It is the law in Connecticut that transgender girls are girls and every woman and girl deserves protection against discrimination.”
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
