On March 30, 2023, Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools, supporting the female athletes who appealed a policy allowing biological men to compete on women’s sports teams. A three-judge panel had ruled against them, relying on Bostock v. Clayton County.
The brief argues:
- Title IX is built on comparing the two sexes. Congress passed Title IX so female students could have the same benefits and opportunities as male students. The law compares what “one sex” receives with what “the other sex” receives, which is impossible without a clear definition of sex.
- Bostock doesn’t apply. It interpreted a different law, an employment law with a different structure and purpose, and the Supreme Court said its reasoning did not control Title IX.
- “Sex” means biological sex. Title IX’s text, structure, history, and purpose all show that “sex” means the biological differences between males and females.
Because the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy fails to give equal opportunities to both sexes, the athletes properly claimed a harm under Title IX, and the dismissal of their case should be reversed.
Read the full brief below:
