Gallup Poll: Americans Strongly Oppose Allowing Biological Males to Join Girls' Sports
A new Gallup Poll reveals the American public strongly opposes allowing transgender females – biological males who transition to female – to compete in women's and girls' sports events.
Sixty-nine percent say trans athletes should only be allowed to compete on teams that match their birth gender, and only 26 percent say athletes should be permitted to play on teams of their new gender identity.
The poll showed that opposition has grown over the last two years to trans athletes playing on teams of their new gender.
Full Second Circuit Court Hears Four Women Athletes' Lawsuit Against Connecticut Policy
Meanwhile, the case of four female athletes who sued the state of Connecticut over its policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity and not their biological sex was reheard on June 6 by the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City after a three-judge panel dismissed the lawsuit last December.
The four Connecticut residents, Chelsea Mitchell, 20, Selina Soule, 20, Ashley Nicoletti, 19, and Alanna Smith, 19, who ran high school track at the same time are represented by the nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
As CBN News reported, the panel in December said the four female athletes lacked standing to sue — in part because their claims that they were deprived of wins, state titles, and athletic scholarship opportunities were allegedly speculative.
"Like the district court, we are unpersuaded, with respect to the claim for an injunction to alter records, that Plaintiffs have established the injury in fact and redressability requirements for standing; both fail for reasons of speculation," the 2nd Circuit judges initially wrote.
The court came to that conclusion despite the fact that two transgender athletes, biologically born as males, broke 17 girls' track records and took 15 women's state track championship titles, according to the lawsuit.
Then last February, the appeals court said all 13 judges on the bench would rehear the appeal of four female runners who said they were unfairly forced to race against transgender athletes with male physiological advantages in high school competitions.
In their filing with the Second Circuit, the four women ask the court to order the Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to correct their official athletic times, victories, qualifications, and record times—giving the female athletes the credit and titles they deserve.
"Plaintiffs are not arguing for a new rule; their claim is that Title IX barred recipients from allowing biological males to compete on girls' track teams all along. There is nothing improper about Plaintiffs' effort to align their athletic records with Title IX's longstanding requirements," the 39-page brief said.
Last month, Mitchell, the female high school track star who described herself as "the fastest girl in Connecticut," told The New York Post the case was about protecting the rights of girls.
"At the end of the day, this is just about fairness," she said. "This is about biology."
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Mitchell, 20, lost more than 20 races during her high school career after Connecticut allowed transgender athletes to compete against her.
"Just two athletes took so many opportunities away from biological females," Mitchell told The Post. "Even though there were only two of them, they took 15 state championships away from other girls — and there were 85 girls that were directly impacted from them being in the races."
Mitchell lost two all-New England awards and four girls' state championships as a consequence, the outlet reported.
Now a college senior, Mitchell is still running track but told The Post she'll never know how the dings to her record impacted her recruitment and scholarship prospects.
"When colleges looked at me, they didn't see a winner. They saw a second- or third-place," she said. "I wasn't a first-place finisher, and I think that's what really hurt me."
USA Today Censored Mitchell's Op-ed
As CBN News reported in May of 2021, USA Today censored Mitchell's op-ed she wrote about losing to trans athletes who were born as males.
At the time, The Federalist reported the editors of USA Today caved to activists' demands and changed the word "male" to "transgender" throughout Chelsea Mitchell's op-ed about her experiences of having to compete against males in high school sports.
The changes in Mitchell's article were made days later by the newspaper's editors who wrote: "This column has been updated to reflect USA TODAY's standards and style guidelines," the editor's note at the top of the article states. "We regret that hurtful language was used."
