DOJ Gets Involved In Lawsuit Against Trans Athletes

The lawsuit was filed by the families of three high school runners who say they’ve been deprived of athletic victories because they are forced to compete against the transgender athletes.

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The Justice department is getting involved in a federal civil rights lawsuit aimed at prohibiting transgender athletes in Connecticut from competing as the gender they identify with.

Attorney General William Barr signed a statement of interest on Tuesday arguing against a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) policy that allows the state’s high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. The filing states that CIAC’s interpretation of Title IX does “not account for the real physiological differences between men and women.”

“In so doing, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX,” it reads.

The lawsuit against the conference and several boards of education was filed by the families of three high school runners who say they’ve been deprived of athletic victories and opportunities because they are forced to compete against the transgender athletes.
 
“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 plaintiffs' attorney Christiana Holcomb said on Wednesday. “And a male’s belief about his gender doesn’t eliminate those advantages.”

In a tweet on Tuesday, the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project deputy director Chase Strangio called the U.S. government's insertion into the case “cruel.”

Though the spring track season is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, Holcomb said that, since the lawsuit involves asking for changes to the state record book, it will continue even if two of the high school plaintiffs, who are seniors, graduate.