Four cisgender women from Connecticut are urging a federal appeals court to give them another shot at their challenge to the state’s trans-inclusive sports policy after it agreed earlier this year to reconsider whether the former high school athletes had the legal right to bring the suit.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had thrown the case out in December, agreeing with a district court’s ruling that the challengers lacked the procedural threshold – known as standing – needed to bring the suit. But the full court of over a dozen members is now set to hear an appeal.
The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case – all of whom have now graduated from high school – are not asking the appeals court to say the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy is unlawful. Instead, they’re trying to get a chance to bring their suit in the first place.
The plaintiffs claim they were put at an athletic disadvantage because they had to compete against two trans athletes in the state as a result of the CIAC policy.
If the appeals court says they have standing in the matter, they’ll be able to bring their suit back to the district court so that they can again ask the court to change their athletic records to their liking.
Conservatives have in recent years seized on the case as they’ve pushed state bills seeking to prohibit trans girls and women from competing on teams that match their gender identity. And the rehearing is playing out just as another high-profile case related to the inclusion of trans athletes in school sports has landed before the US Supreme Court.
In court papers filed Thursday, attorneys for the athletes told the court that the “injustice that began on the track followed the female athletes to the courtroom.”
“Only the en banc court can vindicate plaintiffs’…
Read the full article here