Federal probe of CT school system's transgender policy is ‘mean-spirited and unlawful,' AG says
As the Trump Administration's education department begins investigating its policy on transgender student athletes, Cromwell's school board will talk with its attorney Tuesday night about how to proceed on an issue that could embroil more Connecticut school systems as the year goes on.
The probe puts a spotlight on a particularly contentious culture war issue, and is likely to force Cromwell to decide whether to defend its policy of allowing transgender girls to play on female sports teams.
The matter isn't restricted to Cromwell, though, since the policy came from a statewide education organization and is in use in many other communities. The CIAC also maintains a roughly similar policy.
Federal authorities have contacted at least one other Connecticut school district to announce a review of its Title IX compliance over the trans athlete issue, according to the Connecticut Associaton of Boards of Education. CABE is not identifying the district, saying administrators reached out confidentially for guidance.
'We suspect there will be multiple school districts impacted eventually,' said Patrice McCarthy, CABE's executive director and general counsel. 'I've contacted the chief of legal affairs at the state department of education and the attorney general's office.'
Attorney General William Tong on Monday slammed the investigations and said he and his staff are looking into how they'll respond.
'We are aware of this cruel and partisan so-called investigation, and we are considering all legal options within our authority to protect Connecticut's students and schools,' Tong said in a written statement.
'This is mean-spirited and unlawful, and deeply harmful to all Connecticut students. The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in Bostock that discrimination against transgender individuals is illegal under federal law.'
The Bostock v Clayton County decision by the Supreme Court five years ago is considered a landmark victory for LGBTQ rights, but the Trump Administration said in a Jan. 20 executive order that it largely doesn't apply in transgender cases.
'The prior administration argued that the Supreme Court's decision … requires gender identity-based access to single-sex spaces. This position is legally untenable and has harmed women,' according to Trump's order.
The order essentially dismissed the concept of gender identity, saying ' 'Gender identity' reflects a fully internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.'
In a joint statement, prominent state Senate Democrats said they reject Trump's arguments.
'This is the first instance we know of where the federal government is directly targeting a local Connecticut school system. This administration feels brazen enough to weaponize federal resources to target our local schools and bully and discriminate against our LGBT children while gutting critical agencies like the Department of Education,' Senate President Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff and State Sen. Matt Lesser said.
'It appears cruelty is the point and instead of protecting students, they are targeting our teachers and schools and ripping funding away from basic healthcare and food assistance,' they wrote.
The CIAC rules on transgender athletes state 'The CIAC shall defer to the determination of the student and his or her local school regarding gender identification. In this regard, the school district shall determine a student's eligibility to participate in a CIAC gender specific sports team based on the gender identification of that student in current school records and daily life activities in the school and community at the time that sports eligibility is determined for a particular season.'
Like numerous school districts, Cromwell uses a CABE-written policy on the matter.
'Transgender and gender non-conforming students shall be permitted to participate in interscholastic athletics in a manner consistent with their gender identity,' the rule states.
Neither school board Chair Celina Kelleher nor Superintendent Enza Macri responded Monday to a request for an update on Cromwell's situation.
The board has a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the high school, and one item on its agenda is 'Discussion concerning an attorney client privileged communication related to the board's role in OCR matters (to be proposed to be held in executive session).'
The Out Accountability Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group, plans a rally at 6 p.m.
'The importance of this moment cannot be overstated. Across the country, a wave of politically motivated misinformation is fueling efforts to roll back basic rights and dignity for LGBTQ+ youth,' the organization said. 'We know from these directed investigations that the DoE is quickly issuing findings based on the Trump administration's unlawful interpretation of Title IX.'
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