A female former high school athlete is suing her home state of Connecticut over its policies that allow male-bodied athletes who believe they are “transgender women” to compete in women’s sports.
The athlete, Chelsea Mitchell, 20, believes that the state’s policy violates Title IX protections, according to the New York Post. In her high school track career, Mitchell reportedly lost more than 20 races over the state’s policy allowing men to compete in her sport. Mitchell, along with three other women who ran track in high school in Connecticut, are suing the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to overturn the transgender athlete policy.
“I wanted to give voice to my story and help other girls out there so that they wouldn’t have to experience this,” Mitchell told the Post.
‘Fastest girl in Connecticut’ Chelsea Mitchell suing state after losing to trans athletes https://t.co/jeVVHq2Eou pic.twitter.com/fnitd6bS2l
— New York Post (@nypost) June 1, 2023
Seven years ago, in 2016, Mitchell broke two school records at her first track meet.
“I just kept going with it and got better and better,” she told the Post, adding that “track is really just about hitting those long-term goals that you’ve set for yourself.”
Mitchell’s long-term goals in the sport included winning a state championship and going to college for track. But, those plans were derailed. At her first statewide competition, Mitchell was forced to compete against a transgender male-bodied athlete that bumped her from qualifying for the next round.
“It was just obvious to everyone there that they had a huge advantage. Everyone could see it,” Mitchell told the Post.
By sophomore year, there were two transgender athletes “regularly blowing biologically female track stars out of the water,” the Post noted.
“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 said.
She added that “trying to pick yourself up and go back to the starting line again and again was really hard because you knew each time that there was no hope to win.”
In an op-ed published by Alliance Defending Freedom, Mitchell called herself “the fastest girl in Connecticut.” The piece was initially published in USA Today. Without Mitchell’s knowledge or consent, the outlet changed the word “male” to “transgender” throughout her piece and added an editor’s note apologizing that “hurtful language was used.”
Today, Mitchell is running track in college but did not reveal where she goes to school.
“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.”
Townhall has covered time and time again how biological male athletes who identify as transgender women have competed against females in sports, and even beauty pageants, and robbed them of opportunities. One specific example that pushed the sports issue to the forefront was Will “Lia” Thomas, a male swimmer who competed on the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania last year. Thomas dominated the competition, and female athletes were required to share a locker room with him. At the NCAA championships, Thomas took home a Division I Title, robbing it from deserving female athletes.