I am a women's track and field champion. Here's why I continue to fight for the future of women's sports
Track and field is my passion and that's why I must speak up about what's happening with biological males competing in women's sports
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Everything is a competition to me—from sports to carnival games at the fair. Even when I’m stopped at a red light, I want to be the first to go when the light turns green, beating the car next to me. I attribute my competitive spirit to growing up in an athletic family and playing sports from as early as I can remember.
I wanted to try everything, so at three, my parents brought me to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center and taught me how to skate. I loved skating, so in high school, I became a coach and started teaching it alongside my mom. At five, I started competing in fun runs in my hometown of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and loved winning. I also participated in swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading, and skiing.
I found my niche at eight years old: track and field. I loved it when the gun went off and I turned into a blur of pink in my little tracksuit. I was fast, and by the time I reached high school, I excelled in short sprints and long jump.
Former Conn. high school track champion Selina Soule is a college junior pursuing a degree in communications.
It wasn’t long before I discovered that athletic associations have the power to make rules that directly impacted my ability to win races. No matter how hard I trained, enduring long hours of practice, I just couldn’t beat a boy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference adopted a policy that allows males who identify as female to compete in girls’ athletic events—defying common sense and the scientific fact that men and women’s bodies are different. In track and field, these differences really show up in stature, skeletal structure, muscle mass, and lung capacity, to name a few. I was forced to compete against two biological males in high school, and those athletes took home the top trophies in our girls’ events. It was demoralizing to work incredibly hard to shave fractions of a second off my time only to come in third place.
The mental toll of training for something you know you can’t win is devastating for a competitive person like myself. Instead of acknowledging this obvious injustice, many leaders, school administrators, and elected officials are turning a blind eye to the fact that girls’ sports are becoming fundamentally unfair. States like Connecticut, as well as the NCAA, the International Olympic Committee, and other sports’ governing bodies, have pushed a radical gender ideology that sidelines women and deprives them of medals, championships, qualifying spots, and potentially even scholarship opportunities.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Our current president is one of the worst offenders. On the 50th anniversary of the law that gave women equal opportunity in athletics, the Biden administration is seeking to rewrite Title IX—and it’s not in favor of women. In fact, if his proposed changes to Title IX are enacted, it would open the door for men in sports based on gender identity, permanently making women second-class citizens.
I won’t let this happen on my watch. I’m passionate about speaking out because I believe there are many young girls out there with a competitive nature, a love for speed, and a drive to win.
Women fought for hundreds of years for the right to attend school, to vote, and now some think it’s OK to go backwards and deprive women of the right to compete and win.
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We need more legislatures and governors to step up to the plate and join the 18 states that have enacted laws to protect women’s sports. We need members of Congress and this administration to think about their daughters and granddaughters and what kind of future they want to leave them. We need more young men and women to boldly defend the truth that "sex" means biology and physical anatomy and not a state of mind.
I know this is a hot-button issue and not everyone will agree with me. I’m thankful I live in the United States, where we still have the right to speak freely and can even speak truth to power. My mom grew up in a communist country and legally immigrated to the U.S. over 30 years ago, and there’s not a day that goes by that we take our First Amendment protections for granted.
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When there’s so much at stake, we must do more than count our blessings. We must act, which is why I joined a lawsuit that was heard recently by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom and a growing number of brave female athletes, we’re fighting to protect the future of women’s sports.
Every woman deserves to be seen and recognized for her accomplishments and given the opportunity for her hard work and training to produce a victory.