Transgender track star teens cause controversy in Connecticut

ByLinsey Davis ABCNews logo
Friday, June 22, 2018
Transgender track star teens cause controversy in Connecticut
Two transgender high school runners are kicking up some dust in Connecticut, taking the top spots at the state girls' championship and leaving parents wondering if they have an unfair advantage.

Two transgender high school runners are kicking up some dust in Connecticut, taking the top spots at the state girls' championship track meet and leaving parents wondering if they have an unfair advantage.

Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood dominated the competition at the girls' track and field championships in Connecticut earlier this month. Coming in first and second place, respectively.

While it was a state race, their wins are making national headlines, not because of what they did but because of who they are-- two transgender girls.

Critics complaining that Andraya and Terry both have an unfair advantage since they were born boys.

The rules vary from state to state. In seven states, including Texas, students must play on the team that matches their birth certificate or have undergone surgery or have had extended hormone therapy, while the NCAA requires the completion of one year of testosterone suppression.

They have both started hormone therapy and say that for the most part they've been welcomed by family, friends, coaches and administrators with open arms.

But there is some backlash from parents and students. Two petitions were even started in an attempt to change the current rule of the state's governing body of interscholastic sports. The rule states that students are entitled to participate on a team based on their gender identity - how they identify.

"The girl's athletes are at the physical disadvantage compare to the transgender female," said Bianca Stanescu, who created a petition to change CIAC eligibility rules.

Bianca Stanescu started one of those petitions. After her daughter Selina lost to Andraya and Terry at a track meet in May.

The mom, who did not know that the girls were already undergoing hormone therapy, has gotten a little over 100 signatures. Medical science tells us that estrogen hormone therapy does change the body, replacing some lean muscle with fat, but everyone is different.

Andraya's parents say what's most important to them is the well-being of their child.

"Track is number 100 on my list of concerns as a father of a transgender daughter," said Andraya's father Rahsaan Yearwood. "I'm talking about raising a child for life."

"It allows her to be who she wants to be. And i think that has a little bit more weight than just winning a medal," said Andraya's mother Ngozi Nnaji.

The athletes said if they were born girls and had boys competing against them that it would push them to run faster and that they'd be happy for them.