HARTFORD, Connecticut — Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing three female high-school track athletes and their mothers filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday to challenge Connecticut’s policy of allowing transgender students who identify as girls to compete on the girl’s team.
The lawsuit claims the policy means the plaintiffs Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell are “consistently deprived” of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels.
“Now when we line up in front of our blocks and the starter calls for us to get into position we all know how the race will end, we can’t win,” Glastonbury senior Selina Soule said.
The students were joined by legal counsel from ADF on the state capitol steps Wednesday to announce the lawsuit.
The lawsuit specifically names Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller two championship winning track athletes during the 2017 track season as examples of the unfair playing field both Miller and Yearwood identify as girls.
“We know for a fact that there’s hundreds of trans identified athletes in sex segregated sports in Connecticut,” TransPACT founder Tony Ferriaolo said.
He also expressed it only seems to be a problem when the athlete is winning.
FOX61 spoke to Yearwood father’s in 2018 following the initial complaint. He expressed that his daughter deserves to practice her love for the sport just like any other girl.
CIAC did not comment on the lawsuit directly on Wednesday but a statement said in part, “The CIAC believes that its current policy is appropriate under both state and federal law,” adding they will review the new lawsuit.
