Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith, and Ashley Nicoletti competed at a high level in track and field in high school. All four spent years and hundreds—if not thousands—of hours training for the chance to be the very best, to be recognized as champions, and even to compete for college scholarships.
But the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) allows male athletes to compete in the female category—to the detriment of female athletes. Between 2017 and 2020, males took 15 state titles that previously were held by nine different girls in Connecticut.
Selina, Chelsea, Alanna, and Ashley have all lost out on opportunities and honors due to having to compete against male track athletes.
Men and women are biologically different, and their athletic performance bears this out. Top-performing high school boys can easily compete with, if not outright outdo, Olympian-caliber women athletes. Ignoring this fact defeats the purpose of laws like Title IX, which seek to protect women’s opportunities.
That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom is standing alongside these brave athletes to defend fairness in women’s sports. Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. Allowing males to compete in girls’ sports destroys fair competition and women’s athletic opportunities.
A harmful Connecticut policy
This case stems from a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (“CIAC”) policy that “determine[s] a student’s eligibility to participate in a CIAC gender specific sports team based on the gender identification of that student…” rather than a student’s biological sex.
Under the CIAC policy, not even testosterone suppression is required for biological males to compete on girls’ athletic teams. School districts merely verify “that the students listed on a gender specific sports team are entitled to participate on that team due to their gender identity.” The policy adds that schools must determine a “gender identity” is “bona fide and not for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage in competitive athletics.” No further guidance is given.
The irony in this “guidance” is palpable. While it superficially attempts to weed out males who might try to gain an “unfair advantage in competitive athletics” by playing on girls’ teams, this is precisely what the CIAC allows for by basing entry into gender-specific sports teams on “gender identity.” Males don’t lose their competitive and biological advantages simply by “identifying” as females. Those are hardwired into their DNA.
Such a system has created an unfair playing field for female athletes in Connecticut. Selina, Chelsea, Alanna, and Ashley have all experienced this first-hand.
Who is Selina Soule?
Selina Soule grew to love track and field when she was eight years old. That love grew into a passion by the time she attended Glastonbury High School from 2016-2020.
But for Selina, CIAC policies turned that passion into a nightmare.
In 2019, Selina finished just one place short of advancing to the final round of the Indoor Track and Field State Championships. Selina likely would’ve gone on to compete at regionals, but two males who identify as female competed against her, winning first and second place and setting state records. Instead of getting to compete in front of college scouts, Selina was relegated to the sidelines.
Selina missed qualifying for the state championship 55-meter final and an opportunity to qualify for the New England Regional Championship by one spot in the 2018-19 season; the top two spots were taken by males.
Perhaps most infuriatingly, Selina could see from the get-go just how unfair this would all be—and just how much it would affect women.
“The first race that I competed against a transgender athlete was during my Freshman year,” Selina said. This was her first time losing to a male athlete running in the girls’ category.
“I knew right then and there that some girls will be missing out on great opportunities to succeed, and that women could be completely eradicated from their own sports.”
Who is Chelsea Mitchell?
Chelsea Mitchell attended Canton High School between 2016-2020.
A talented high school sprinter, Chelsea was pursuing her dreams. She was on the road to achieving state titles and awards as a female track and field athlete in Connecticut until two males showed up at the starting line.
Because of their biological advantage, these male athletes began to win these accolades that rightfully belonged to Chelsea. On multiple occasions, she lost a state championship title to a male athlete.
“In 2019, I was ranked the fastest biological female in the state of Connecticut,” Chelsea explains.
“I worked really hard to get that good, and it wasn’t just, you know, my raw talent that got me there.”
Despite that, on four separate occasions, Chelsea was the fastest female in a women’s state championship race, and four times she watched that title, honor, and recognition go to a male athlete instead, despite how hard she had trained to maximize her God-given talents. And that’s deflating.
“When I have to compete against a transgender athlete, I just feel completely defeated before I even run the race,” Chelsea explained.
Who is Alanna Smith?
Alanna attended Danbury High School from 2018-2022, and she, like her peers, excelled at track and field. She came from a family of athletes and understood what it meant to compete. In fact, her father, Lee Smith, was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2019.
Alanna won the 400-meter dash at the 74th New England Interscholastic Track & Field Championships in June 2019—as a freshman. She had a promising track career in front of her. Fortunately, no male athletes raced in the 400m dash at that meet—though a male athlete did compete in, and win, the 200m dash, bumping Alanna down to 3rd place. Similarly, Alanna ran a second-place finish in the 200-meter at the State Open Championship, but was dropped to third behind a male competitor.
Alanna knows that being forced to compete against male athletes could threaten her opportunities to win championship titles and even earn scholarships—and just how hopeless it can all feel.
“On the way to a track meet in New York City, Alanna and I were talking about what her strategy was going to be for the day,” Alanna’s mother said. “And she looked at me and said, ‘Mom, it really doesn’t matter, because I’m running against the boys today.’”
“It just isn’t fair for anyone born male to compete against girls,” Alanna said. “That unfairness doesn’t go away because of what someone believes about their gender identity.”
Who is Ashley Nicoletti?
Ashley attended Immaculate High School from 2018-2022. She, like Selina, Chelsea, and Alanna, had a passion for competing in track and field. And she, like her peers, excelled at it.
Yet despite her talent and dedication, Ashley could do little when she missed an opportunity to compete at the 2019 outdoor State Open Championship Finals for the 100m to two male competitors. As a talented freshman, Ashley soon had to grapple with the reality of competing with male athletes. And when she saw those male athletes in person, she felt discouraged, anxious, and angry about being forced to compete against them because she knew that she would lose.
In her first state meeting, Ashley was placed in a lane right next to a boy, and everyone could see the muscle mass and stature advantage he had over her.
“I remember when I first had to race against a male athlete—it was intimidating,” Ashley described. “I felt nervous even at the thought of such an unfair race. I knew I had a chance against other girls, but not against a male athlete.”
A long, winding, and fraught path
For these female athletes, defending fairness in women’s sports has been far too long of a path. A complaint was originally filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in June 2019, asking it to investigate illegal discrimination against the Connecticut female athletes. That August, under the Trump Administration, the Office agreed to open an investigation into the CIAC.
The following year, ADF filed a separate lawsuit against the CIAC in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, filed a brief supporting ADF’s position in the case.
However, in 2021, under the new Biden administration, the DOJ withdrew its support, and that April, a federal court ruled that the case of these four female athletes against the CIAC must be thrown out. A month later, ADF appealed this dismissal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Over a year later, in December 2022, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit ruled that the case could not move forward.
But thankfully, in December 2023, the full 2nd Circuit reinstated the case, allowing it to proceed at the federal district court level. Then, in November 2024, a district court finally ruled that the lawsuit may proceed, rejecting a request by state officials to again dismiss the case.
The case is still ongoing.
“Each of us has lost medals, a place on the podium, scholarships, and dreams we worked hard for throughout our teenage years,” the girls said. “It’s taken nearly five years of legal wrangling just to earn our right to a fair hearing before a Connecticut district court. Four-plus years of our lives have been spent asking for justice and trying to save the opportunities that were taken from us for other girls.”
Title IX protects women’s sports
Female athletes have made great strides since 1972, when Title IX was passed. Since then, girls have been given many of the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
But now, in schools across our country, those opportunities are being stripped away from female athletes. These girls are losing their spots at high-level competitions. But it’s not because their schools don’t offer their particular sports. And it’s not because they’re not good enough or don’t work hard enough.
It’s because the spots of these female athletes are going to biological males who identify as female. And that means these female athletes, who have worked so hard and for so long to achieve their dream, are losing opportunities to compete in front of college scouts.
“We are all equal, but we aren’t all the same,” explains ADF legal counsel Rachel Rouleau. “Title IX was premised upon the reality that men and women are different and that these differences matter.
“When biology is ignored, and words like ‘sex’ lose their meaning, it is women and girls who bear the brunt of that mistake.”
Alliance Defending Freedom has established a strong record of success standing against authorities and bureaucrats who attempt to rewrite laws and violate the freedom of Americans. We are even going to the Supreme Court this next term to defend women’s sports laws and female athletes in Idaho and West Virginia.
This wouldn’t be possible without your generous giving. Will you consider giving to ADF today to stand with female athletes across the nation?
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