A high school sports policy in Connecticut that allows student athletes to compete based on their gender identity violates Title IX, according to a finding by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
The ruling, which was made on May 15 but just became public on Thursday, comes after three female high school students filed a complaint and argued that transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete against them in track.
The office argued that by allowing transgender athletes to compete on girls’ track teams, Connecticut’s policy “denied female student-athletes athletic benefits and opportunities, including advancing to the finals in events, higher level competitions, awards, medals, recognition, and the possibility of greater visibility to colleges and other benefits.”
“Today’s finding, which is not a legal ruling, represents another attack from the Trump administration on transgender students,” Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, told The New York Times. “Once again, the administration is wrong on the law, and we will continue to defend transgender students under Title IX and the Constitution. Trans students belong in our schools, including on sports teams, and we will not back down from this fight.”
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