By Hank Berrien Feb 25, 2021 DailyWire.com
This week, the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice withdrew its support for a lawsuit brought by three high school female athletes that would block biological males from competing in girls’ sports in Connecticut. Former Attorney General Bill Barr had backed the lawsuit, saying the Connecticut law permitting such participation violated Title IX protections.
On Wednesday night, Alanna Smith, one of three girls who had brought the lawsuit, appeared on Fox News along with her attorney, Christiana Holcomb of the Alliance Defending Freedom. During her appearance on the network, Smith blasted the Biden Administration, saying, “Fairness needs to be restored in our sport and all other women’s sports … these biological males are just taking it away from us.”
A lawsuit was filed in federal court by three high school girls and their mothers against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), which has permitted boys to compete in events and win awards that would otherwise have gone to girls. Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), were denied opportunities to compete at higher levels as boys took home the prizes. CIAC’s policy allowed two males to compete in girls’ athletic competitions beginning in the 2017 track season. Those boys have taken 15 women’s state championship titles (titles held in 2016 by nine different Connecticut girls) and have taken more than 85 opportunities to participate in higher level competitions from female track athletes in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons alone.
“I got involved after I ran against the biological males at the New England meet because in the 200 meter I took third place when I should have gotten runner-up,” Smith began on Wednesday night. “And it’s not really about placement but it’s all about knowing that I work so many hours a week to be able to get runner-up in New England’s [championships] as a freshman. And I am really disappointed in the news, because me and the other girls, Selina and Chelsea, have worked really hard to get our stories out there, to get people to realize that fairness needs to be restored in our sport and all other women’s sports.”
Fox host Katie Pavlich commented, “Christiana, you know, from a political perspective, the Left claims to always stand up for women, they’re the party of women, and yet here we are with policies that disenfranchise female athletes. And I have serious questions abut what this means in terms of harassment of female athletes. Does this mean that biological males are not allowed to go into the locker room as well as compete against them and take away scholarships and placement in state championships? I know that the lawsuit is going to move forward despite DOJ pulling their support for it? So where are you going from here?”
“Well, the lawsuit absolutely moves forward, but as you mentioned, this was clearly a politically motivated decision to side with radical activists over female athletes like Alanna,” Holcomb answered. “But what’ s even more concerning is this effort to gut legal protection for women is not just isolated to what we see in Connecticut. Even now, the Biden administration is pushing the so-called Equality Act, which ignores the real physical differences between men and women and threatens women’s privacy, women’s homeless shelters, and yes, even women’s sports on a national level for female athletes like Alanna.”
Pavlich asked, “But in terms of athletics, Alanna, when it comes to the things that you’ve missed out on, people say ‘it’s only fair’ to allow biological males to compete against you, What is your response to that?”
“That people should realize that a lot of biological females have missed out on making it to meets that really matter, like states and regionals, and the transgender athletes have taken spots on the podium that belong to biological females,” Smith stated. “We train for so many days a week, so many hours to be able to be the best in our state and the best in our region, and these biological males are just taking it away from us and we really deserve it.
Holcom added, “Title IX was designed to ensure that girls like Alanna have a fair and level playing field, have a chance to showcase their talents, to be champions, and frankly, to earn those college scholarships. So we want to move forward and we want to see women’s sports protected across the country.”
Mitchell, who was ranked the fastest biological girl in Connecticut in the 55m, lost four girls’ state championships and two all-New England awards. She recalled, “I knew that I was the fastest girl here, one of the fastest in the state. I remembered all my training and everything I had been taught on how to maximize my performance … I thought of all the times that other girls have lost. I could feel the adrenaline in my blood and hope that wafted from me. That just possibly, I could win this. Then, the gun went off. And I lost.”
Smith, whose father is MLB Hall of Famer relief pitcher Lee Smith, won the 400m at the 2019 outdoor New England Regional Championships as a freshman and finished second in the 200m at the New England Regional Championships. She stated, “Even before I get to the track, I already know that I’m not going to get first place, or maybe even second place . . . I know that no matter how hard I work, I won’t be able to have the top spot.”
Barr had stated in March 2020: “Under CIAC’s interpretation of Title IX … schools may not account for the real physiological differences between men and women. Instead, schools must have certain biological males — namely, those who publicly identify as female — compete against biological females. In so doing, CIAC deprives those women of the single-sex athletic competitions that are one of the marquee accomplishments of Title IX.”