HARTFORD, Conn. – Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Roger Brooks and ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb will be available for media interviews Friday following a hearing in federal district court in which the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit of several female athletes. The high school track competitors are challenging a policy that allows biological males who claim a female identity to compete in girls’ athletic events. 

ADF General Counsel Kristen Waggoner:  “Our nation’s laws should respect the most fundamental freedoms of every American citizen. But the deceptively titled ‘Equality Act’ hides behind promises of toleration and empowerment, while its policies threaten real harm to women and children, radically alter our legal landscape, and discriminate against religious communities. This legislation would deny female athletes fair competition in sports, ignore women’s unique health needs, and force vulnerable girls to share intimate spaces with men who identify as female. The Equality Act also punishes and marginalizes people who hold decent and honorable beliefs about marriage or dare to believe the scientific evidence regarding the physical differences between men and women.” 

ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb:  “Defying common sense, the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration has abandoned its support for the deserving female athletes who have been sidelined and outpaced by males dominating girls’ sports. But the government’s politically motivated reversal can’t change biological reality or the correct interpretation of the law. Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls; that’s the reason we have girls’ sports in the first place. In fact, Title IX exists precisely because of these differences and is intended to ensure that women and girls have an equal opportunity to compete, achieve, and win....”