Reduxx has learned that a second trans-identified male is set to compete in the girls division of the upcoming New England Interscholastic Track and Field Championship after seizing qualifying spots from two female student-athletes.
Lizzy Cohen Bidwell, born Lucas, qualified for the championship after placing in multiple events in the girls’ Connecticut State Championship. His victory resulted in two female athletes being pushed out of qualifying spots in both the high jump and long jump events.
Bidwell placed among the top six competitors in two events at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference State Open on February 17, thereby qualifying him for the regional championship, which is due to be held on March 2. Bidwell finished third in the girls high jump event, pushing a junior from Thomaston High School out of qualifying. He also finished fifth in the girls long jump competition, causing another female athlete from Bloomfield High School to miss out on a spot in the regional championship.
Bidwell’s winning high jump at the Central Connecticut Conference Championships earned him the top girls’ performance in the state this season yet would have only earned him 10th place in the boys’ Conference event.
Bidwell was transitioned at an extremely early age, and his parents legally changed his name to “Lizzy” when he was between the age of 9 and 10. His parents appear to have increasingly sought to conceal his biological sex over the years.
His mother, Carla Rebecca Bidwell, is a mathematics specialist who began her career as a high school mathematics teacher but moved into promoting critical race theory and trans activism. She has lectured other math teachers on the concept that mathematics can be a tool for “social justice,” and completed her PhD with a focus on the topic of race and mathematics lessons.
Her dissertation, entitled “Successful White Mathematics Teachers of African American Students” discusses the perceived issues with white instructors teaching black students. Carla also delivered a workshop at the Mathematics Equity Summit in 2019 where she spoke about unconscious biases and told white mathematicians to “check their privilege.”
In 2020, Carla spoke out against Georgia’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act or HB 1060. The bill was sponsored by State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart and aimed to outlaw medical interventions for minors, such as puberty-blocking drugs, exogenous hormones, and cosmetic surgeries intended to give children the appearance of the opposite sex.
Carla has also signed multiple open letters in support of “trans rights.”
In 2018, she signed a letter published in Teen Vogue which called for the Trump administration to halt plans to make the definition of sex clear in law, and to affirm that sex could be determined before or at the birth of a child. That same year, she lended her name to a Human Rights Campaign effort to call on then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to ensure “transgender” students had access to the opposite sex bathrooms in school.
Her son is not the only biological male expected to compete in the upcoming New England girls’ Championships.
Lizzy Bidwell is set to compete against another boy, Maelle Jacques from Kearsarge Regional High School. Jacques qualified for the championship after winning the girls high jump competition at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 state championship held on February 11 at Plymouth State University.
After winning the title, Jacques was criticized on X by swimmer Riley Gaines, an outspoken advocate for fairness in women’s sports.
Bidwell and his family relocated from Georgia to Connecticut within the last few years, following a state ban on male athletes competing in women’s sports. The ban is designed to protect women and girls and ensure fairness and equal opportunity for female athletes.
Connecticut, however, does not have the same protections, and it has become what Kim Jones of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) calls “ground zero” for the explosion of male athletes displacing girls in school track competitions.
Speaking to Reduxx, Jones pointed out two other trans-identified male athletes who rose to prominence after both being permitted to compete in the female 55-meter dash at the Connecticut Open indoor track championships in 2019. The male racers Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller took the top spots in the competition and later received the Gold Key Courage Award by the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance after besting every girl in the state. Over the course of several years, these male athletes took 15 girls’ state championship titles in Connecticut and broke 17 meet records held by top female athletes leaving a profound impact.
Following the Yearwood and Miller scandal, four female athletes pursued a lawsuit against the CIAC claiming sex discrimination under Title IX. However, the lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny who said the four women did not have standing. The girls appealed that ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The en banc panel of 15 judges reversed the District Court decision in December of last year, sending the case back down for a ruling on the merits of the Title IX claim.
The CIAC argues its policy was designed to comply with a state law that requires all high school students be treated according to their “gender identity.” It also claims the policy is in accordance with Title IX, the federal law that allows girls equal educational opportunities, including in athletics.
Currently, The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Council allows male athletes to simply self identify into female competitions and there are no requirements for them to suppress their testosterone levels.
“The discrimination against girls in the sport persists because state policymakers in the state refuse to act, or even acknowledge, the injustice against female athletes, even after 15 girls track and field state championship titles were lost to two boys,” Kim Jones told Reduxx.
While it is unclear what medical interventions Lizzy Bidwell has undergone, Jones argued that it is “irrelevant” and called it a “misconception” that males who are transitioned early in childhood retain no physical advantage.
“What we are seeing now dispels the misconception that boys whose parents disrupted their natural development with puberty blockers don’t retain male athletic advantage. We have examples of male athletes in volleyball, such as Tate Drageset and India Clark, and now in track and field who have only ever competed in the girls’ category yet still dominating and even in some instances, injuring female competitors,” Jones said.
Speaking about the impact this will have for female athletes, Jones emphasized how missing out on competing in championships will impact girls’ college applications.
“This retained performance advantage profoundly affects college recruiting and can mean the difference between a roster spot on a team or even a full-scholarship opportunity lost for a female athlete,” she said.
“Girls deserve fair competition at every level in sport and this can only be achieved in a category exclusive to female athletes based on sex.”