After officially assuming the presidency in January, Joe Biden signed a host of executive orders including one that backed a Supreme Court ruling allowing transgender athletes to compete in sporting events in schools.
Though the Justice Department under Trump’s administration had backed a 2020 lawsuit seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports, the executive order meant the Biden-led government was taking a different path as the department recently withdrew its support. The lawsuit in question was filed by female Connecticut high school track athlete Alanna Smith.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Smith expressed her disappointment over the Justice Department’s decision to withdraw its support. According to Smith, she and other biological female athletes “have worked really hard to get our stories out there to get people to realize that fairness needs to be restored in our sport and in all other women’s sports.”
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She also said she wants the populace to “realize that a lot of biological females have missed out on making it to meets that really matter…and the transgender athletes have taken spots on the podium that belong to biological females.
“We train for so many days a week, so many hours to be able to be the best in our state and the best in our region, and these biological males are just taking it away from us and we really deserve it.”
Despite the recent setback in Smith’s lawsuit, Smith’s attorney was adamant they’ll continue pursuing the case, claiming that the decision by the Department of Justice was “politically motivated.”
The decision by the Biden administration to uphold the Supreme Court ruling through the signing of the “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” was met with swift backlash from a section of the public.
In a press conference on February 9, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, defended the executive order, saying, “The president believes that trans rights are human rights,” Independent reported.
Biden’s executive order reportedly broadens the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County ruling which protects LGBTQ people from being discriminated against at the workplace. “It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,” the ruling states.
The latest executive order further expands the ruling by the Supreme Court to protect students from being discriminated by sex in schools that are federally funded, according to Independent.
“Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love,” the executive order states. “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
