Trans Athletes... Unfair Advantage?

Trans people are back in the news again, unfortunately in a bad way… the gender inclusive non-discrimination law is being challenged.

Connecticut high school athletes file complaint over transgender policy
The Hartford Courant
By Alex Putterman  and LoriI Riley
June 18, 2019

Three Connecticut high school track and field athletes have filed a federal discrimination complaint against a statewide policy on transgender athletes, saying it has cost them top finishes in competitions and possibly college scholarships.

The conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom filed the complaint on behalf of the girls Monday with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. It seeks to reverse a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rule allowing athletes to compete in sports corresponding with their gender identify.

The CIAC says its policy follows a state anti-discrimination law requiring students to be treated in school according to the gender with which they identify.

This goes back to last year when two trans athletes won the Track & Field competition (I wrote about it here and here).

The trans athletes speak out in another Hartford Courant article,

Connecticut high school transgender athletes ‘no longer want to remain silent’ following Title IX complaint
By Dan Brechlin
June 20, 2019

Two transgender high school track and field athletes responded Wednesday to a Title IX complaint alleging that the runners prevented other female runners from top finishes and potentially from college scholarships.
[…]
“I have faced discrimination in every aspect of my life and I no longer want to remain silent,” said Bloomfield High track and field standout Terry Miller, one of the two transgender athletes cited in the complaint. “I am a girl and I am a runner. I participate in athletics just like my peers to excel, find community and meaning in my life. It is both unfair and painful that my victories have to be attacked and my hard work ignored.”

Miller, along with Andraya Yearwood, who attends Cromwell High, have been working with the American Civil Liberties Union as the complaint begins to unfold. Miller won the State Open 200-meter title for the second straight year in 2019 and won the Class S titles in the 100 and 200, as well as the New England 200-meter championship. Yearwood, who is also transgender, finished third in the 100 meters in Class S and fourth in the 100 in the State Open.

In the Trump administration we know how the Department of Education is going to respond they are going to back the cisgender athletes.

What does the NCAA have to say about trans athletes?

NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes

As a core value, the NCAA believes in and is committed to diversity, inclusion and gender equity among its student-athletes, coaches and administrators. We seek to establish and maintain an inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators from diverse backgrounds. Diversity and inclusion improve the learning environment for all student-athletes and enhance excellence within the Association.
[…]
NCAA Policy on Transgender Student-Athlete Participation

The following policies clarify participation of transgender student-athletes undergoing hormonal treatment for gender transition:
1. A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for purposes of NCAA competition may compete on a men’s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women’s team without changing that team status to a mixed team.
2. A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.

Additional considerations

The student’s responsibilities
1. In order to avoid challenges to a transgender student’s participation during a sport season, a student athlete who has completed, plans to initiate, or is in the process of taking hormones as part of a gender transition should submit the request to participate on a sports team in writing to the director of athletics upon matriculation or when the decision to undergo hormonal treatment is made.
2. The request should include a letter from the student’s physician documenting the student-athlete’s intention to transition or the student’s transition status if the process has already been initiated. This letter should identify the prescribed hormonal treatment for the student’s gender transition and documentation of the student’s testosterone levels, if relevant.

The school’s responsibilities
1. The director of athletics should meet with the student to review eligibility requirements and procedure for approval of transgender participation.
2. If hormone treatment is involved in the student-athlete’s transition, the director of athletics should notify the NCAA of the student’s request to participate with a medical exception request.
3. To assist in educating and in development of institutional policy and practice, a Transgender Participation Committee should be established. Members of the committee should represent a cross section of the institutional staff with student well-being interests, and include representation from the following departments: office of general counsel, health and counseling, faculty/academic affairs, and athletics.
4. All discussions among involved parties and required written supporting documentation should be kept confidential, unless the student-athlete makes a specific request otherwise. All information about an individual student’s transgender identity and medical information, including physician’s information provided pursuant to this policy, shall be maintained confidentially.

So under the NCAA policy a student who identifies as trans women as long as she has been on spiro for at least a year.

There probably a lot of trans athletes in the state and only two of them have won but they ignore that little fact they all the others lost. If they had such unfair advantage then you would expect a lot more would be winning.

Updated 9:30 AM

In a Fox 61 article this morning at the law suit...

“Just like life, sports is not always fair,” said Dawn Ennis, the Managing Editor, for Outsports a website that covers LGBTQ sports and a transgender woman from West Hartford. “Those girls didn’t ask to be transgender. They didn’t decide to be transgender. They are transgender. What these girls want to do is run as their true selves.”
[...]
“Should we take tall athletes out of pole vaulting?” Ennis wonders. “Should we take fastest runners out of track?”

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With Trump packing the courts right-wing fanatics we are going to have a harder time winning case like the one above.

Anti-LGBTQ Attorney Matthew Kacsmaryk Confirmed as Federal Judge
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
June 19, 2019

Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has endorsed the view that being transgender is a “delusion” and referred to the Equality Act as the “inequality act,” was confirmed by the U.S. Senate today to be a federal district judge for the Northern District of Texas.

Kacsmaryk was confirmed to the lifetime appointment by a vote of 52-46, with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joining united Democrats in voting against him, the Washington Blade reports. Collins, often considered a moderate, drew criticism for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court last year, but she said she would oppose Kacsmaryk for his stances against LGBTQ and reproductive rights.

LGBTQ groups and other civil rights organizations denounced his confirmation. Matthew Kacsmaryk is among the most anti-LGBTQ judicial nominees put forward by the Trump-Pence administration,” said a statement issued by Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “He has a long history of virulently anti-LGBTQ opinions and positions — including his deeply disturbing opposition to same-sex marriage, his vocal hostility towards legal protections for gender identity and sexual orientation, and his shocking refusal to recognize the basic humanity of transgender people. Kacsmaryk fails the basic expectation of impartiality and commitment to equality under the law that we demand of every member of the bench. The Human Rights Campaign will continue to raise the alarm about Kacsmaryk and future nominees who refuse to protect the rights of all Americans.”

With more discrimination cases coming before the federal courts this is going to impact us. Trump is getting the judicial nominees from a list compiled by anti-LGBTQ+ and pro-far right Christian organization, these judges are biased and prejudicial against us and put the Bible before the Constitution.