Posted on March 1, 2024
Please See My Recent Column on Protecting Women and Girls in Sports:
Have you heard of the story of Chelsea Mitchell? In 2020, she had trained extraordinarily hard as a female track athlete in Canton and was ranked as the fastest Connecticut high school female in the 55-yard dash. You would think with her hard work and talent she would win constantly. Instead, Chelsea lost four women’s championship titles to two biological males who were allowed to compete against her.
The governing body for student competition allowed the biological males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, which led to transgender athletes winning fifteen track championships. Chelsea was one of many girls who were denied opportunities in unfair competition when transgender athletes were allowed to compete in girls’ sports. By Chelsea’s own account, losing to biological males was a “devastating experience” that told her she was “not good enough; that my body isn’t good enough; and that no matter how hard I work, I am unlikely to succeed, because I’m a woman.”
It saddens me that girls in our state feel this way. That they believe they cannot win because the competition is stacked against them. Sports should be a way for our girls to feel empowered, showing them that when they work hard, they can persevere. That is why I along with Senator Sampson recently stood in support of the Let Kids Be Kids Coalition, which is made up of clergy members, parents (including Chelsea’s mother), and lawmakers, who are calling for a public hearing on legislation that would permit schools to set aside some sports teams as ‘women only’ and require parents or guardians to be notified in the event their child begins a social gender transition in school.
The coalition will continue to promote legislation that will require interscholastic sports to apply to a student’s biological gender. Our coalition has assembled to be a voice for our girls, but where are the supporters of women’s rights on this issue? Women have fought for years for equal rights throughout society and for a level playing field in sports – allowing transgender athletes to compete cheats our girls from those opportunities. Advocates who claim to fight against the marginalization of women should be standing up for the rights of these girls, but instead they have been silent.
Girls’ sports should be reserved for biological girls out of an interest of fairness to the athletes and to protect them from injuries, which occur during contests with larger and stronger males.
In North Carolina, a high school female volleyball player suffered a concussion when a transgender player “spiked” a ball into her head. In Massachusetts, a field hockey player had a ball slammed into her face.
World Rugby, the governing body for the sport, has banned transgender women from competing due to the “significant” safety risks involved. What is the basis for that decision? According to The Guardian, World Rugby did so because “it is known that biological males (whose puberty and development is influenced by androgens/testosterone) are stronger by 25% to 50%, are 30% more powerful, 40% heavier, and about 15% faster than biological females.”
When biological boys compete in girls’ sports, it also takes away scholarship opportunities from girls and puts them at a tremendous disadvantage. Transgender athletes could always join open co-ed sports teams where girls voluntarily compete against boys. Right now, girls in interscholastic sports are forced to compete against biological males and it just is not right.
Many people agree – a Gallup poll in 2023 revealed that 69% of Americans say transgender athletes should only compete on teams that match their birth gender.
If a child believes they are a different gender than their biological gender, then tells a teacher or school staff about how they are feeling, parents have a fundamental right to be informed so they can talk with their child. That information should not be hidden from parents.
But Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong is in support of keeping parents in the dark about what their children say to educators during the day. Tong filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Foote et al. v. Ludlow School Committee et al., arguing in support of Ludlow’s practice of only sharing information about a student’s transgender or gender identity with the student’s parents if the student consents, according to his office. Tong says providing this information to parents would somehow be “dangerous” because it may “out” the student to their parents.
Where is the limit to this? This policy means that if a child as young as 5 or 6 feels one day that he or she is a different gender and tells their teacher, the information would be hidden from parents.
To our female athletes, please be vocal and stand up against this ideology that is robbing you of opportunities. You have my support.
And the Let Kids Be Kids Bill and Save Women’s Sports Bill proposed by the coalition also has my support. To learn more about the legislation and how you can help, you can visit: https://familypolicyalliance.com/savegirlssports/