Local officials have grown more optimistic that they will be able to head off a $3 million hit to school budgets and still allow transgender athletes to compete in school sports. If they are not successful, the cost of taking a lawsuit against the federal government to the U.S. Court of Appeals could cost up to $99,000 — though New Haven would have help paying the tab.
These are the latest updates from the New Haven Public Schools Board of Education, which convened for a special meeting on the subject Monday night.
Monday’s meeting concerned a threat by the federal Department of Education, under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, to withhold $6 million over two years from New Haven Public Schools if the district allows transgender athletes to compete on the sports teams of their choosing, starting this year.
“We’re a lot more optimistic now than we were a week ago. I’m looking forward to seeing the final results of that,” Board of Ed member Darnell Goldson said of talks on the subject, which were discussed in executive session.
The threatened funds would normally come to the district in October in the form of the Federal Magnet Schools Assistance Program Grant, which supports specialized programs at magnet schools like High School in the Community, Davis Street and King-Robinson. The Education Department has added a new document to the MSAP grant process that requires Connecticut magnet districts to bow out of state policies that recognize trans athletes’ chosen gender identity.
As the New York Times reported in an article on similar disputes nationwide, this threat pits dollars intended to desegregate urban and suburban schools against Connecticut trans athletes.
In early September, New Haven’s Board of Education vowed to fight the federal pressure, first through the Education Department’s internal process and then in court if necessary. At that time, the board did not know how much a legal fight would cost.
The board’s Finance and Operations Committee Monday night received estimates for that legal fight leading up to $99,000. This would cover the cost of hiring the law firm Berchem, Moses & Devlin, PC, to represent New Haven all the way through an appeals process to the Second Circuit Court, according to district Chief Operating Officer Michael Pinto.
New Haven is splitting the full cost of the fight with Groton. The town plans to join New Haven’s potential suit and has hired the same law firm. Pinto said that costs will likely be further reduced by the LGBTQ-focused nonprofit Lambda Legal’s offer of pro bono help. The state may pitch in as well, depending on how far the suit goes, Pinto said.
“Hopefully, we will not need to utilize the full $99,000. Hopefully, the feds will decide not to pursue this extortion to get us to sign onto their agenda,” said board member Matthew Wilcox.
Wilcox added that withholding the MSAP grant cuts a $3 million-size hole in New Haven’s budget in the middle of the fiscal year and the middle of the grant cycle.
Trans advocates and Board of Ed members call the recent policy as part of an ongoing attack by the Trump administration on transgender people. The Trump administration has attempted to roll back trans people’s access to housing, health care, military service and more.
The position of DeVos’ Education Department is that allowing transgender women to compete on female sports teams discriminates against athletes who were born biologically female.
“Congress requires the department to withhold funds from schools that aren’t in compliance with the law. … Connecticut applicants declined — on multiple occasions — to assure the Office for Civil Rights that they are in compliance with Title IX,” department spokesperson Angela Morabito was quoted as saying in the New York Times article.
In the same article, Mayor Justin Elicker accused the Trump administration of “extortion” in trying to pressure local governments to discriminate against transgender people.
A Transgender Perspective
The following was written by R. Bell, a middle-aged trans man who serves on the New Haven LGBTQ+ Youth Task Force.
In a perfect world, all kids that identify as transgender would be given hormones as soon as they hit puberty. Therefore any physical advantages or disadvantages they have would be equal with their cisgender counterparts. However, that is not often true.
So many transgender teen athletes are often forced to compete in sports in bodies that they are physically, mentally and emotionally fighting against every day. Bodies that are not developing the way that they would like, or need.
But that often is true with cisgender teen athletes as well. How many track and field athletes wish they were born with the physical attributes that makes Usain Bolt the fastest man in the world? Or Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the fastest woman? Or Michael Phelps, the best swimmer? For example, how many cis teen track and field athletes have shorter limbs, thus a shorter stride or reach? They are still competing against people that have physical advantages they may wish they had, thus these smaller athletes may need to work harder to keep up. And they do work harder.
Should Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce or Michael Phelps be excluded from their chosen sport simply because they were born with physical features that made them the best in their chosen sport?
No.
Neither should transgender athletes.
Not every athlete is born with the physical advantages that makes them the best in their field or even the second best. Transgender teens already have a disadvantage, that of not being accepted as the gender they identify as; of frequently being told that they have to use different bathrooms, have different locker rooms, or even that federal funds to their programs will be withheld simply because of who they are. They should not have to “have a third program simply for ‘them’,” nor should they have to have “weight classes,” like wrestlers.
Jackie Robinson was not penalized for being a good player, but for being who he was, a Black man. He was one of the best that ever played baseball, but was continually judged for who he was. It wasn’t until he was allowed to play at the level of his expertise that he was valued by all as an athlete.
Transgender teen athletes have the difficulties of needing to fight in order to be accepted for who they are, only to be told that they are “too good” to be allowed to compete with their cisgender peers. Creating “a league of their own” for transgender athletes is nothing more than segregation. That is no longer how most of the athletic world is, so that’s not how their world should be.
My question is, why haven’t these transgender girls been on hormones since puberty? Was there no support for them to physically become who they are? Was it their decision or was it public or parental pressure that kept them from hormonal treatments?
If they had been on hormones from the onset of puberty, this would not be an argument because their bodies would have developed as female.
This should not be a matter for the schools, courts, nor the federal government. This should be a matter for parents and health professionals who can and do support transgender children.
While I don’t want to conjecture what will happen with this case, I do wish to show my support to all of the transgender athletes that are involved in this situation. I feel that yes, they should be allowed to compete with their cis peers.
Maybe instead of focusing on what physical advantages transgender teens have, people should focus on treating transgender teens as who they are, the gender that they identify as. Even in sports.
Especially in sports.
The city should put this out to bid to civil rights firms and NGOs, not hand out a fat contract to a defense firm like Berchem. No offense to the attorneys there.