A petition launched in July in support of Selina Soule, the high school track athlete who filed a federal complaint regarding transgender student-athletes being allowed to compete in girls' sports, has exceeded 150,000 signatures, according to petition host LifeSite.
Soule, a senior from Glastonbury, Conn., lodged her complaint with the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights along with two unnamed female athletes, alleging that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference discriminated against biological girls and violated their Title IX rights. Passed in 1972, Title IX ensures females are afforded equal educational opportunities, including sports participation, as males, but it makes no mention of gender identity.
Related: Federal Complaint Addresses Transgender Inclusion
As a junior, Soule placed eighth in the state open indoor track championships 55-meter race, with transgender athletes placing first and second.
"We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing," Soule said at the time. "I fully support and am happy for these athletes for being true to themselves. They should have the right to express themselves in school, but athletics have always had extra rules to keep the competition fair."
As reported by LifeSiteNews, in Connecticut and 19 other states, "girls are now forced to compete against biological boys claiming to be 'girls,' and these policies unfairly deprive biological girls of the right to a level playing field in competitions that they can never win despite their best efforts."
LifeSite campaign coordinator Scott Schittl adds that “150,000 people from all over the United States, and beyond, agree that the real discrimination taking place here is against female athletes who have worked hard to achieve success in their chosen sport … success which is being deprived to them because of the inherent and insurmountable advantages which biological boys naturally have.”
The OCR is currently investigating Soule's complaint.
Related: OCR to Investigate Connecticut's Transgender Inclusion
“The petition, which was begun in July, just keeps growing,” said Scott Schittl, one of LifeSite’s campaign coordinators. “The fact that so many people have signed shows there is a deep unease about this in American society.”
