We recently learned of a victory in a court battle over attempts by the government to force doctors to perform “gender-affirming” surgery on patients. But a separate case in Connecticut went the other way on Friday. Alliance Defending Freedom has been fighting a rule imposed by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) allowing boys who “identify” as girls to compete in girls’ high school track and field events for several years. They brought the suit on behalf of four actual high school girls (who are now adults) who protested the fact that they had been bumped out of the running and the opportunity for collegiate scholarships by two boys who set new state records in multiple girls’ events. But a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that barring the trans athletes would be a violation of Title IX, supporting a ruling by a lower court that found against the plaintiffs for a different reason. (The Hill)

Transgender athletes in Connecticut and their advocates secured a victory on Friday when an appeals court ruled that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) may move forward with a policy that allows transgender girls to compete on female sports teams.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that discrimination against transgender students violates Title IX, which prevents educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating based on sex.

“Today’s ruling is a critical victory for fairness, equality, and inclusion,” Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who represented the CIAC, five Connecticut school boards and two former athletes in the case, said in a statement. “This critical victory strikes at the heart of political attacks against transgender youth while helping ensure every young person has the right to play.”

This ongoing case is centered on two former trans high school athletes, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, who we’ve been writing about here since 2018. The boys broke several girls’ track and field records when competing, leading to the parents of four of the actual girls filing a lawsuit. A lower court found in favor of the CIAC last year, saying that the case was “moot” because both boys graduated in 2020 and were not competing in sports in college.

But that’s really not the point, is it? What’s at issue here is the question of federal and state governments interpreting an Obama-era declaration regarding Title IX, claiming that discrimination rules apply to “gender identity” as part of a broader ban on discrimination based on sex.

I won’t waste your time on the reasons that transgender athletes are undermining or destroying girls’ and women’s sports and all of the data that supports this obvious reality. We’ve covered it all here too many times as it is. The reality is that males should not be allowed to compete against females in any sport involving physical activity. And no amount of surgery or hormones will fully level the playing field after boys have finished their primary growth spurt through their early teens.

While this court ruling is a disappointment, it likely still won’t be the end of the road for this question. It’s too early to say whether the issue will reach the Supreme Court, but if it does, we can only hope that the more conservative majority there will force some sanity back into this conversation. This is about far more than just settling the wording of Title IX. (Though that definitely needs to be squared away.) The justices also need to clarify questions regarding genital mutilation surgeries performed on children and the administration of powerful “puberty-blocking” drugs that have never been approved for such use by the FDA or even had comprehensive clinical trials conducted with them.

This entire transgender craze that’s been sweeping the nation, particularly in our public schools, has resulted in an unmitigated disaster. The madness needs to end. And if common sense is unable to prevail, the courts will need to step in.