Betsy DeVos, the US Secretary of Education, is threatening to cut federal funding to Connecticut schools unless they ban transgender girls from playing sports on girl’s teams. The move, which was first reported by the AP, is yet another attack by DeVos against the LGBTQ community.
The claim is that trans girls aren’t biologically girls, but boys, and therefore, will have an unfair advantage in the realm of sports. The Alliance Defending Freedom (a conservative Christian organization) backed up the claim by stating, that it “isn’t fair, destroys girls’ athletic opportunities, and clearly violates federal law,”
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights told Connecticut they have 20 days to stop allowing trans girls to compete, or face losing their federal funding.
However, The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference responded by saying, “Connecticut law is clear and students who identify as female are to be recognized as female for all purposes—including high school sports.”
This is most likely set to end up in court, seeing as both sides are using Title IX to defend their case. One side says allowing transgender girls to play is a Title IX violation. The other side states that Title IX was designed to keep everyone protected, and open up opportunities for all, including transgender students.
