According to Forbes, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has weighed in on the ongoing lawsuit launched by teen female athletes calling for biological males (referred to obediently by the media as “transgender girls”) to be barred from competing against them in sports:
Allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports with girls who are not transgender is a violation of federal law, and if it’s not stopped in 20 days, Connecticut risks losing federal education funding. That’s the ruling by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, made public Thursday in a report by the Associated Press.
Pause for a moment to consider how the media twists itself into pretzels to produce copy that satisfies the demands of transgender activists. “Allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports with girls who are not transgender” means “allowing biological boys identifying as girls to complete in school sports against biological girls,” but stating it that way would make trans activists look too unreasonable. So instead girls are now being referred to by Forbes as “girls who are not transgender.” Whither feminism? More:
Wrong, says the American Civil Liberties Union; one of its most fierce defenders of transgender Americans called the ruling nothing more than another example of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s politically-driven agenda of discrimination, specifically targeting trans girls, and trampling on their rights.
“Today’s finding, which is not a legal ruling, represents another attack from the Trump administration on transgender students,” said Chase Strangio Thursday in a statement. He’s the deputy director for trans justice, with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project. “Since 2017, DeVos’ Department of Education has taken consistent aim at transgender students. Once again, the administration is wrong on the law and we will continue to defend transgender students under Title IX and the Constitution. Trans students belong in our schools, including on sports teams, and we will not back down from this fight.”
Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools that receive federal funding, is cited by both sides in this ongoing battle. And because of that, it can be confusing for parents and school officials to know what this ruling really means for the children who, afterall, only want to play sports, and for those events to be fair.
Fair for whom, is the question.
The policy in place in Connecticut since 2013, allowing transgender student participation in school sports, “isn’t fair, destroys girls’ athletic opportunities, and clearly violates federal law,” said the legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom. That’s the Christian conservative legal group representing three girls who filed the civil rights complaint, who are now suing to stop trans athletes from competing against them…The girls’ attorney told the AP:
“Around the nation, districts are going to want to be reading this, because it does have legal implications,” Roger Brooks said. “It is a first decision from the agency charged with enforcing Title IX addressing the question of whether males on the playing field or on the track are depriving girls of opportunities consistent with Title IX.”
I noted recent updates to this case here—it will be interesting to see what impact DeVos’s ruling has in all of this. A hugely significant case—with implications for the entire country, for female sports, and fundamentally, how we view reality.
Good for Betsy!