Roy Exum
A harbinger, we have been taught, is “something that foreshadows a future event,” or “something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come.” Last week in Connecticut, the families of three high school athletes – all female – filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference. The lawsuit claims a current CIAC policy is a violation of the federal Title IX Act -- which bars discrimination on the basis of sex – and that the unfair stance of the high school athletic authority for transsexual athletes has clearly allowed boys to displace girls in some of the state’s competitive events.
That’s the vanilla story. The better truth is that a pair of transsexual high school students, who contend they are females by their own identity, are actually biological males via their birth certificates. The lawsuit mentions both Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood by name and, since the pair, identified as males at birth, began running track as females in 2017, they have won at least "15 women's state championship titles in Connecticut."
The stark reality? The United States of America cannot allow less than one percent of any group to cause an unlevel playing field for the other 99 percent.
In an obvious effort to make sure no American is excluded from our freedoms, both the state and federal laws have decreed high school athletes compete by “gender identity.” Because male human beings have been proven to be stronger, faster and have a totally opposite DNA than females, government’s efforts to be fair has become notoriously unfair to the far greater majority. Right now there are rightfully dozens of other states (a bill has been introduced in the Tennessee legislature) who can see the absurdity of males competing against females based on “who I really am” rather than using a biological standard that rests on birth-record proof.
For the record, it is believed by the Williams Institute (within the UCLA law school) that approximately .06 percent of Americans are transsexual. That boils down to about 1.4 million who identify as transsexual. Boil it down some more and the Williams Institute believes that among Tennessee’s estimated 6.79 million population, there are roughly 32,000 transsexuals living among us. I hold respect for every Tennessean but what an abomination it would be to favor 32,000 transsexuals over 6.79 million who also deserve equal governance and fairness in this state.
One of the three high school girls who stood on the steps of Connecticut’s capital on Wednesday to answer questions about the lawsuit was Chelsea Mitchell of Canton High. She earned the right to run in Friday’s state indoor track meet and in the lane next to her in the women’s 55-meter finals was trans athlete Terry Miller, the reigning state champion. In a harbinger followed by an exclamation point, Mitchell outran the besieged Miller by .02 seconds to be the new champion. Mitchell’s time was 7.18 seconds, compared to Miller’s 7.20. The state’s other trans athlete, Yearwood, had been favored in Friday’s 55 meters but a false start in a preliminary race disqualified Andraya.
Asked about her victory over Miller, Mitchell said she had tried to “just clear everything out of my mind. This is just track, you know? Just running. I focused on myself and what I needed to do.” Asked if she felt her actual victory would help or hurt the lawsuit, Mitchell answered, “I don’t think it could go against...there are still tons of girls that lose races (to trans athletes) on a daily basis.”
Neither Mitchell nor Miller spoke to one another after the stunning upset but Miller clapped after the race. “I clapped because, for me, I am not a hater. When you take a win, you take a win,” he told one reporter. “And even if you don’t respect me, I’ll respect you.”
A non-profit conservative group is representing the plaintiffs in what promises to be a lengthy ordeal. Christiana Holcomb, a lawyer for The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), issued a prepared statement that read, “The CIAC's current policy robs female athletes of opportunities because of the physical advantages of males. Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field," the lawyer wrote, “Forcing them to compete against boys isn't fair, shatters their dreams, and destroys their athletic opportunities."
According to a CNN report, last week’s lawsuit “comes nearly eight months after ADF filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of three athletes -- Soule and two others who were unnamed -- claiming CIAC's policy on transgender athletes violated Title IX. That investigation is still pending at the Office of Civil Rights, CIAC said in their statement. (It is believed a federal compliance officer confirmed that Title IX "supports transgender athletic opportunities with the gender of which a person identifies.")
Title IX, which became federal law in 1972, says, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
* * *
It is believed 18 states now have policies that prohibit athletic participation by transgender student athletes and several other states currently have legislation pending. Tennessee’s SB2077 reads: “AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to school sports. As introduced, requires elementary and secondary schools that receive public funding to ensure that student athletes participate in school-sanctioned sports based on the student's biological sex as indicated on certificate issued at time of birth; provides for the cessation and restoration of the school's public funding; establishes a civil penalty of not more than $10,000; requires a public official to vacate the official's office for taking certain actions contrary to the intent of the law. - Amends TCA Title 49.
* * *
The other two girls who stood with Chelsea Mitchell at the Connecticut capital were Selina Soule of Glastonbury and Alanna Smith of Danbury. Alanna’s dad, for whatever this is worth, is Lee Smith who was such a brilliant closer during his 18 years in the majors he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame two years ago.
royexum@aol.com