Competition, The Law, and CIAC

It sounds like a scenario out of  the "Twilight Zone".  "Imagine, if you will"...that an organization purporting to oversee high school sports in the state of Connecticut allows competition based on "gender identity".  That is, a male can compete as a female (and vice-versa) simply by saying that they are a female (1).  

Incredible as it sounds, this idea doesn't come from a science fiction novel; it is the actual policy of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).  Logic and actual results dictate that this pushes actual females to the side; a biological female will never be able to compete with a biological male (see author's note).  Yet this doesn't seem to matter to leadership of the Conference.  Nor does it matter that opportunities are being taken away from biological females.  CIAC claims that "Connecticut law is clear", and that they are in compliance with it (2).  

Nevertheless, on the issue at hand, the United States Department of Education (supported by the Department of Justice) disagrees.  Following a complaint and subsequent investigation, the Department (on May 15, 2020) issued a "Letter of Impending Action" to the Conference.  The letter declared that CIAC policy is in violation of the federal law known as "Title IX", and gave the Conference until June 4 2020 to remedy the problem, else risk the loss of federal funds (3).  CIAC's response was to double-down, and utterly refuse to negotiate a solution.  

CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini knows that the Conference is not only violating Title IX, but pushing it backward thirty years.  The whole point of the law is not to deny opportunities, but to give females a chance to succeed where they have traditionally been unable to.  And perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that you can't just ignore a federal law, states' rights or no.  There is a reason (see above) for Title IX, and the law that goes along with it (4).   

So why won't CIAC obey the "laws of the land"? Perhaps they believe that federal law doesn't apply to them, and that they are above such laws? That's the same attitude that many in the south's "good-ol-boy network" took towards segregation and injustice.  "I can run my city/county/state the way I want to; the law means nothing to me".  This was the wrong idea then, and it's the wrong idea now.  

In any event, I suggest that if CIAC will not obey the laws of our nation, maybe it's time to rethink this "one state, one conference" thing.  Perhaps it's time to found a new organization that intends to obey the law, rather than maintain membership in one that has no such intent.  

Author's Note: In the words of professional wrestler "Eli Drake", "that's not an insult, that is just a fact of life".  

Sources:

1. "Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Handbook-CIAC By-Laws". Article IX.  Connecticut Association of Schools, 2020, https://www.casciac.org/pdfs/ciachandbook_2021.pdf. Accessed 4 Jan 2021.

2. Collinsville Press. "U.S. Department Of Education Says CIAC Policy Violates Title IX". 2020, https://collinsvillepress.com/2020/05/dept-of-education-says-ciac-policy-violates-title-ix/23845/. Accessed 4 Jan 2021.

3. Received by Lori Mizerak, et al., Letter of Impending Action, 15 May 2020. 

4. Personal knowledge.