Posted in Personal Injury Lawyer
Three female high school track athletes in Connecticut have filed a lawsuit to stop transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.
The lawsuit focuses on two transgender sprinters, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who have frequently outperformed their cisgender competiters.
The plaintiffs have competed directly against them, almost always losing to Miller and usually behind Yearwood.
“Our dream is not to come in second or third place, but to win fair and square,” Chelsea Mitchell, a senior at Canton High School, said. “All we’re asking for is a fair chance.”
“Mentally and physically, we know the outcome before the race even starts,” said Alanna Smith, a sophomore at Danbury High School. “That biological unfairness doesn’t go away because of what someone believes about gender identity. All girls deserve the chance to compete on a level playing field.”
Yearwood, a senior at Cromwell High School, and Miller, a senior at Bloomfield High School, issued statements defending their rights to run in girls events.
“I have faced discrimination in every aspect of my life and I no longer want to remain silent,” Miller said. “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.”
Yearwood said that she has also been hurt by the efforts to tear down her successes.
“I will never stop being me!” she said in her statement. “I will never stop running! I hope that the next generation of trans youth doesn’t have to fight the fights that I have. I hope they can be celebrated when they succeed not demonized. For the next generation, I run for you!”
“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams, and destroys their athletic opportunities,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney, Christiana Holcomb, said in a statement. “Having separate boys’ and girls’ sports has always been based on biological differences, not what people believe about their gender, because those differences matter for fair competition. And forcing girls to be spectators in their own sports is completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics.”