A year ago, trans identified students, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, took 1st and 2nd place in the 2019 Connecticut State Championships in Girls Track. The year before, they took 1st and 2nd as well. In fact, since 2017, Miller and Yearwood have won a total of 15 indoor and outdoor Girls State Championship races.

A lawsuit filed on February 12, by three Connecticut high school girls and their families, asserts that allowing biological males to compete against biological females goes against Title IX.

The three high school athletes, Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, and Alanna Smith, are represented by a nonprofit organization, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), in the lawsuit, which was filed against the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, and the boards of education in Bloomfield, Cromwell, Glastonbury, Canton and Danbury.

According to an announcement, made on March 25, by ADF, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken “sides with CT high school athletes seeking to protect fair play in girls’ sports.” It’s an important development in the ongoing case.

With regards to the DOJ’s statement of interest, filed Tuesday in federal district court, the girls’ attorney, Christiana Holcomb, stated, “Girls shouldn’t be reduced to spectators in their own sports. Allowing males to compete in the female category isn’t fair and destroys girls’ athletic opportunities. 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 2018, Terry Miller, took 1st place in the 100-meter dash, at 11.72 seconds, and in the 200-meter dash as well, at 24.17 seconds, in the Connecticut State Championships Girls Track division. These were record breaking times. In 2019, Miller took 1st place again, at the Connecticut State Championships, and set a record in Girls Indoor Track, of 6.95 seconds, in the 55-meter dash. DyeStat records show that Miller would rank 120th place in the 55-meter dash, in the Connecticut State Boys Track division (the division Miller ran with, prior to joining the Girls Track division in 2018).

Screenshot: Terry Miller, 1st place 2018, 2019, CT State Championships Girls Track, broke record times.

In 2017, Andraya Yearwood, took 1st place, in both the Girls 100-meter dash, and 200-meter dash, in the Connecticut State Championships Girls Track division. In 2018, Yearwood took 2nd in the 100-meter dash, and in 2019, Yearwood took 2nd in the 55-meter dash, recorded at 7.01 seconds. DyeStat records show Yearwood would rank 195th place in the 55-meter dash, in the Connecticut State Boys Track division.

Screenshot: Andraya Yearwood, 1st place 2017, 2nd place 2018 and 2019, in CT State Championships Girl’s Track.

In a 2018 interview, on Good Morning America, Miller explained that instead of complaining, the girls should try harder.

But just a couple of months into 2020, the girls were still asserting that it’s not a matter of how hard they try, rather the biological advantages that males have — Differences such as size, bone structure, narrow pelvis, wider rib cage, larger heart, larger lungs, and so on.

Even under attack, threatened by major organizations, and misrepresented in the media, the three students decided to pursue legal action on behalf of kids who are, as Selina Soule said last year, “afraid to speak up because of retaliation.”

“Those attacking trans youth — through lawsuits like this or through attacks in state legislatures: You need to know that we will not back down. And you will need to come through ALL OF US.” —American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

To put things into perspective, I caught up with developmental biologist, Emma Hilton, who posts stats online under Fond of Beatles. She explains that the current 100-meter Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson, is slower than 10,219 males since the year 2000.

In fact, in 30 years, no woman, not a single one, has beat Flo Jo’s 1988 record of 10.49 seconds in the Women’s 100-meter race. However, since the year 2000, 3,646 males have beat Flo Jo’s record. 3,646.

Since 1988, an estimated 6,000 males have beat Flo Jo’s record. In 2019 alone, 824 male athletes ran 100-meters in less than 10.49 seconds.

Image credit: Emma Hilton, aka Fond of Beetles

The Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, claims the policy (that students must now compete on the basis of gender identity rather than biological sex) is “appropriate under both state and federal law.”

On February 12, ACLU responded to the girls’ lawsuit, stating, “Those attacking trans youth — through lawsuits like this or through attacks in state legislatures: You need to know that we will not back down. And you will need to come through ALL OF US.”

Those attacking trans youth — through lawsuits like this or through attacks in state legislatures: You need to know that we will not back down. And you will need to come through ALL OF US.https://t.co/O1UKX051W2 — ACLU (@ACLU) February 12, 2020

With regards to the DOJ’s ‘statement of interest,’ filed Tuesday, Holcomb further stated, “The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy is also completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics. As the DOJ rightly explains in its statement of interest filed in this case, ‘Title IX and its implementing regulations prohibit discrimination solely “on the basis of sex,” not on the basis of transgender status, and therefore neither require nor authorize CIAC’s transgender policy.”

Over the last year, Olympic athletes, such as Martina Navratilova, Sharron Davies, Kelly Holmes, Daley Thompson, and Ana Paula Henkel, have come forward opposing self-ID in sports.

In layman’s terms, Self-ID laws, also known as the “bathroom bill” in the US, are changes in law that aim to legally dismantle all sex-based protections, and remove all protocols and waiting periods previously required to access spaces that were once separated on the basis of sex — such as sports, homeless shelters, prisons, and women’s rape crisis centers, to name a few.

That a because it is unfair. Self ID cannot be the answer… — Martina Navratilova (@Martina) February 15, 2020

Just a little over a year ago, Martina Navratilova‏, became familiar with the media backlash that Soule, Mitchell, and Smith, are facing, when Rachel McKinnon, a trans identified athlete, and a World Champion in Women’s Cycling, demanded Martina retract and apologize for a comment she made that questioned Self-ID.

Interestingly, in 1977, Navratilova, a lesbian tennis legend, stood behind transsexual tennis player Renée Richards, who fought for the right to compete in Women’s Tennis — Richards later said,“I know if I’d had surgery at the age of 22 and then at 24 went on the tour, no genetic woman in the world would have been able to come close to me. And so I’ve reconsidered my opinion.”

In 2019, Navratilova, unaware that there were no longer any requirements for trans identified athletes to compete in women’s sports, responded to an online post with, “…You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard…”

Screenshot: McKinnon (center), 2018, Yahoo Sports article titled: ‘Not fair’: Runner-up fumes…

“Contrary to public perception, the overwhelming majority of male-born transgender people retain their penis and are fully male-bodied.” —Fair Play for Women

After Navratilova apologized to McKinnon, stating, “I will delete whatever it is you want me to delete, apologize and keep quiet,” McKinnon, continued to, as Navratilova put it, “attack attack attack.”

The media, ironically, considering Martina’s history, labeled her “transphobic.” They’ve done the same with the high school girls in Connecticut.

“Forcing girls to be spectators in their own sports is completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics. Connecticut’s policy violates that law, and reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women.” —Christiana Holcomb

A study recently conducted by the Journal of Medical Ethics, concluded that biological males hold an “intolerable” athletic advantage over biological females in athletics, even under the recent International Olympic Committee guidelines requiring trans identified athletes to keep their testosterone levels below 10 nmol/L. And those guidelines are strictly for the Olympics. Outside of the Olympics, there are no guidelines, or requirements.

Most people aren’t aware of how Self-ID works, or even what it means. Media on the left has withheld information from its readers, and has placed restrictions on the words journalists can use, making it hard for readers to truly understand what’s happened, in a way that can be realistically processed.

The control over, and manipulation of, language, has been a strategic move on the part of media, celebrities, influencers, and law makers. When you manipulate language, you manipulate the way the brain processes information. You manipulate perception.

In places like Canada and the UK, Self-ID laws extend to enforcing compulsory language, so that women aren’t even allowed to say what’s happening in realistic terms without potentially facing legal action.

The Journal of Medical Ethics also recently stated that it’s not only testosterone (that gives an advantage to trans identified athletes in women’s sports), but that “other male physiology provides a performance advantage in sport” as well. Great lengths have been taken to prevent women from speaking on the topic— women who’ve been saying the same thing, for years.

While this has been spun in the media as a left vs. right issue, in reality it’s not. Support for the three Connecticut girls, and concern over women’s sports in general, is coming from both the left and the right.

“This policy will take away our medals, records, scholarships and dreams… Protect us. Don’t take away our dreams.” —Selina Soule

Selina Soule, one year ago, explains her position via YouTube

As a lesbian journalist, it’d be irresponsible to write this article without explaining a deeper issue of abuse, underlying this discussion.

Yearwood and Miller, and kids in general, are currently being taught ‘gender ideology’ in schools — a compulsory belief system that’s been integrated into school curriculum. A system of belief that thrives off of the continued conflation of the words ‘sex’ (biological) and ‘gender’ (stereotypes expected based on sex).

This compulsory belief system is being pushed by the “LGBTQ” — a hijacked movement, that was once set up to protect gay and lesbian kids, and is now run by extremists who promote child abuse and a new form of gay conversion therapy that’s harmed an alarming number of LGB youth.

In fact, the vast majority of kids with “gender identity issues” (stereotype dysphoria), would, statistically, grow up to be LGB — if they were allowed to grow up.

Gender ideology targets children and young people who haven’t even had a chance to reach full cognitive brain development (which happens at around age 25). And how the brain develops isn’t something we’re just now discovering.

We’re not “now” being told. We already knew (science). Ppl just weren’t applying it to this. I was the first to start making that connection and verbalizing it through a mainstream publication— at the time I was shocked that no one was bringing this up. It’s completely unethical. — JD Ghassan Robertson جوليا ديانا (@JuliaDRobertson) February 29, 2020

In fact, it’s basic science. As a lesbian with a front row seat to what was happening in our community, combating the insanity through mainstream — starting around 2006 — became a moral obligation.

As someone who started off as a PSY major, it was baffling that no one was talking about the ethics of ‘transitioning’ young people as it relates to what’s known about brain development.

So, regardless of repercussion, the goal became to bring this up in as many places as possible, where relevant, such as in this case, as it relates to kids like Miller and Yearwood.

In an article written by Dr. William Malone, Colin Wright, and myself, it’s explained that the conflation of ‘gender’ and ‘sex,’ stems from a cultural failure to understand the overlap between sexes, when it comes to the broad distribution of personalities and preferences within sexes. What’s now called “gender identity,” is simply a young person’s self-assessment of the degree to which they fit the stereotypes of “masculinity” or “femininity.”

Screenshot: Terry Miller flies ahead of the competition at a CT State Championship Girls Track meet

Soule, Mitchell, and Smith, might not yet see the underlying issues, or understand the wider context (most people don’t). Nonetheless, they’ve been put in a position to fight something that just feels wrong.

They’re fighting for fairness in sports, but they might not yet understand that school systems shouldn’t have been allowed to introduce and enforce a compulsory belief system to begin with.

Image: photo taken by MindfulMoms’ child, in English class, in Westchester County NY school

In this case, a belief system that claims sex doesn’t exist (or count), but ‘gender’ does. A belief system that insists females learn to silently accept, through indoctrination, the loss of autonomy, titles, opportunities, and scholarships.

This isn’t just about sports. It’s about enforcing an entire system of belief that’s rooted in sexism and homophobia. It about the larger male-dominated system that continually fails to protect girls and women, continually reinforces female subordination, and fails to protect children.

Every tactic in the book has been used to censor our voices, distort our words, or scare us into silence.

In fact, the women who’ve spoken out against gender ideology — using their names, letting people know who they are — could at one point be counted on a pair of hands. Doing so meant enduring a great deal of stress and hostility. It meant you had to be willing to face potential blacklisting, retaliation, threats to you and your family, and disruptions to your sense of safety, your job security and financial stability. It still does.

Up until recently, understandably, most women fighting gender ideology, remained anonymous — This has been rapidly and drastically changing.

The death of lesbian feminist, Magdalen Berns, in October, encouraged many anonymous women to reveal their identity. Still some criticized the idea — of shedding anonymous status — with legitimate concerns.

Dr Emma Hilton. University of Manchester.



Bring it. #fuckfear pic.twitter.com/11MIecawlk — Dr Emma Hilton (@FondOfBeetles) September 13, 2019 Emma Hilton

But there’s power in numbers. Dr Emma Hilton (who posted sports stats anonymously, under “Fond of Beattles”), was among the many women who kicked off “#fuckfear,” revealing her name and posting a photo online, in honor of Berns’ final request — that “women stand up, speak out and be brave.”

Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, and Alanna Smith, are only in high school, but they’ve been put in a position to defend reality. They’ve done so under harsh criticism and while under threat — Hopefully their courage will inspire more and more women to step up, speak the truth, and say “fuck fear.” After all, if we keep sitting around, politely waiting for men to protect us, we’ll be waiting forever.

Julia & her wife Claudia, disrupting fragile masculinity since birth, making a ruckus together since 2006.

جوليا ديانا— Julia Diana Robertson, is an award-winning author, and journalist—A first generation Arab-American, who grew up between worlds, and currently resides somewhere in the middle with a bird’s eye view.