Ten years ago, I would not have believed that women would be fighting for the chance to succeed in their own sports. I never thought I would have to become one of the first to speak against allowing men to compete in women’s athletics.
In 2017, I had to compete against a male athlete in high school track and field in Connecticut. I thought the state athletic policy would disqualify this athlete, but that was not the case. Exactly a year later, after competing as a male for three seasons, another boy would start identifying as a girl and compete in the girls’ category.
Throughout high school, I competed against these athletes in dozens of races, and I lost all these races to the male athletes. Between the two of them, they won over 15 women’s state championships and broke over 17 meet and state records. It was heartbreaking and demoralizing to be forced to compete against males. There was nothing we could do to overcome the physical advantage the males had over us, and we could never fight for that gold medal fairly.
I knew something needed to be done to change this unfair policy. My parents and I tried to meet with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to resolve this problem, and they told us only the schools could make a motion to change the policy. We met with my school principal and athletic director; they shut us down instead of trying to protect girls like me. We tried to talk to state legislators; they were unwilling to help us. We had to file a lawsuit in federal court through our attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, which is ongoing.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Many states and their leaders are protecting women’s sports. Twenty-five states have passed laws protecting women’s sports — from Florida to New Hampshire. Their actions reflect popular opinion. About 80% of the public agrees that women’s sports should be reserved for women.
In contrast, states like Connecticut and their leaders oppose the popular and fair result. At just 15 years old, I learned the very harsh truth that many legislators do not care about women. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) have repeatedly shown that they will not take action to protect girls and have consistently opposed efforts to protect us, including in the recent Senate vote that failed to pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
In June 2022, I was in our nation’s capital for the 50th anniversary of Title IX. I had a meeting scheduled with Blumenthal, but he canceled it mere hours before it was supposed to take place.
Murphy has repeatedly supported men competing in women’s sports. In April 2022, he dismissed the rights of female athletes on X. When Utah’s governor vetoed that state’s women’s sports bill, Sen. Murphy said, “This bill wasn’t about rectifying some youth sports injustice…” I am living proof that this is wrong.
Why are so many of our representatives turning a blind eye to the death threats I received and the bullying and shaming that I and other female athletes received when all we asked is for fairness to be restored to our sports?
Just look at what happened with the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. It had already passed the House, but Democrat senators filibustered the bill, and the final vote was 51-45 against. Not a single Democrat in the Senate was willing to stray from their party and vote for the bill, showing that protecting women is not a priority for them.
But according to a recent New York Times poll, 67% of Democrat voters don’t want to let males compete in women’s sports. It’s clear those Democratic senators are not voting for their constituents but for their own agenda.
Fairness for women and girls who want to compete in sports should not be political; it should be common sense. Science tells us that men and women are different and that men physically perform at a much higher level than women. The difference between men’s and women’s track-and-field records and qualifying standards clearly shows this.
ELISSA SLOTKIN SAYS TRANSGENDER ATHLETES DEBATE IS TO ONLY ‘MAKE SPARKS’
Fair sports programs are about biology, not identity. Policies should reflect this. Women have fought long and hard to have the same rights as men. Women fought to go to school and get an education, to have the right to vote, to be paid the same as men, to have credit cards in their own name, and to have their own sports. The legislators who voted against advancing the recent bill in Congress are turning their backs on what women of the past have fought so hard for.
This trend cannot continue. We must demand accountability from the elected officials in this country who refuse to protect women and girls.
Selina Soule was a high school athlete and is the plaintiff in Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools.