What Happens to K-12 Trans Athletes in Washington State? We're about to Find Out
Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility and, on its Facebook page, Seattle Schools acknowledged this and said:
To note, a week in November is called Transgender Awareness Week in the U.S.
Kennewick School District, in Eastern Washington, has appealed to the federal government over what to do about transgendered athletes. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has stated that districts should follow state law because an executive order by a president is not a law.
Story from The Seattle Times:
In a complaint filed this week with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the Kennewick School Board said it’s in a bind: Either comply with state law and jeopardize federal funding, or follow President Donald Trump and risk punishment from the state.
“The Kennewick School Board is committed to ensuring the protection of biological female athletics, maintaining ‘all-female’ locker rooms separate from male locker rooms, and prioritizing the privacy rights of our students,” the complaint reads. “However, we find ourselves caught between conflicting directives that threaten not only our federal funding but also the rights and values of the families we serve.”
The board, with 19,000 students enrolled this school year, filed the complaint against the state, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, his office and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association over “open and egregious Title IX violations.”
In specific Reykdal says:
“An executive order is not law, and it does not override state law,” Reykdal continued. “OSPI will enforce our current laws as we are required to do in a constitutional democracy until Congress changes the law and/or federal courts invalidate Washington state’s laws.”
He said the state is prepared to take legal action if the Trump administration withholds funding.
Kennewick School Board also says they worry about conflict between state and Trump over "preferred pronouns, parental rights, and restroom access based on gender identity."
In a bit of a throwdown, a single member of the Kennewick Board abstained from this vote:
The school board approved the complaint in a 4-0 vote Wednesday, with board member Michael Connors abstaining. In the meeting, Connors told his colleagues, “we took a vow to follow the laws. Full stop."
“The only way we do this is by finding a way to change the law,” he continued. “So if you guys think we can do that with this letter, then go nuts. I’m not taking any part of this deal because I have already stated we should not be going down this political road.”
The Times also reports:
This month, the Department of Education launched an investigation into the Tumwater School District, near Olympia, for letting a transgender athlete from another school compete in a girls’ high school basketball game. A district spokesperson had no update on the case Friday.
I smile - this is what the Department of Education is going to be doing now?
As well, it appears a couple of other eastern Washington districts' boards have asked for federal intervention - Moses Lake and Mead.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, tasked with setting policy for school sports, is scheduled to vote next month on two proposals related to trans girls playing sports. One would bar trans girls from participating in girls’ sports. Another would create a separate division where trans athletes can compete.
To note, today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's request to enforce its transgender military ban.
Comments
At the same time, I've never heard or read anything that explains how the disparity in strength and size, when a Trans girl is transitioning after puberty, is factored in on the decision to include Trans girls on the team...say, basketball or running. I heard a suggestion that there be an all-gender category.
Signed,
Just wondering
Girls & women are guaranteed equal opportunity in education and sport thru Title IX and it's now under threat. When a boy is allowed to be on the girls team, it's no longer a girls team, it's mixed sex. Even when one boy or young man takes a top spot in a competition, girls are displaced all the way down the line. It effects fair competition, college admission and scholarship opportunities. And putting girls in a position of vulnerability and discomfort having to share locker rooms & bathrooms with a boy, while telling them that boy is really some sort of girl, is just the worst kind of gaslighting.
Sex is rooted in biology, determined at conception & is immutable. The words girl & woman belong to females. No one is kicking "feminine" boys out of competitive sports; they are being asked to compete & change with their fellow males or establish their own category. That is where the "inclusiveness" and acceptance lies, not in forcing girls to budge over. And ultimately, Title IX IS the law of the land and it's original protections reflect reality. And thanks Melissa, for having open expression on your blog.
- Former Athlete
First, I think that it may be that the high level of attention this gets can confuse some kids. Students in the middle/high school range have ALWAYS questioned, "Who am I? What do people see when they look at me? What kind of person do I want to become?" So that is no surprise but yes, with the wide-ranging discussion over types of sex,gender, etc., I do think some kids don't know what to think. And I think they won't talk to their parents but will listen to peers and Instagram.
Second, I will state that I absolutely do not believe surgery is being done on minors. I'm not sure it's even legal in most states.
Third, Roosevelt High School has a health class in which they watch a Ted Talk called "“The Way We Think about Biological Sex is Wrong.
I did go and watch it and found it very good and very moving. The woman speaking was born intersex and does a good job explaining what that means and has meant to her. So " Sex is rooted in biology, determined at conception & is immutable. So "it's not going to work..." is just not valid. These people find ways to make what biology gave them to work in their lives.
Fourth, as I stated, I think the addition of a trans athlete brings in many issues that may be too difficult to overcome. So I agree that accepting a trans teammate might be different than actually training and playing together.
The other non deliverable from adults is this trying to place people in a neat little box, making rules for who wears what depending on their genitals, ignoring that gender and sex are different things, that intersex people exist, or that most women every where would rather be protected from cis men than transgender women. I will not quibble on who gets to play in what game — agree that biology is real, and some improvements can be made to how they assign teams. In any case, it’s relevant to about .001% of the population and a needless distraction from bigger emergencies, the price of eggs etc
Etc
The term “intersex” is not accurate. Some people have Disorders of Sex Development and they are sex dependent. Caster Semenya for example has a male DSD.
Argue for co-ed teams if that’s needed. Otherwise it’s taking away existing rights and muddling law and policy.
I haven’t seen anyone making my points arguing for kids to wear any specific clothes. That’s not the argument. True acceptance of non conformity would not claim these choices change one’s sex.
Gender is Stereotypes
Males have larger hearts, more muscle mass, less body fat and greater aerobic capacity than females. It just isn't fair to female athletes to make them compete against male athletes.
1 - I hope all parents are talking to their kids about what's happening in schools right now in terms of the concepts being such attention. I keep a very open line of communication going with more listening than talking.
2 - Sorry to say there are many verified instances of radical mastectomies performed on minor girls in the name of "gender affirmation". Many young women have been speaking out to legislatures around the country recently. Just yesterday, Claire Abernathy testified in front of the Texas legislature that she was given a radical mastectomy at age 14. It's was very shocking to find out that this was happening despite being told it wasn't.
3 - Intersex is considered a stand-in term for DSD, or developmental sex disorder. DSD's are sex-specific. There are no instances of part male/part female humans or anyone with a DSD changing their sex. Sex is not a spectrum, even when chromosomal disorders occur. So DSD's are not evidence that anyone has a 'gender identity' that is mutable or resides in their thoughts, misaligned with their actual sex.
4 - Glad we agree.
Etc - I've heard all these arguments before. "Transgender women" ARE men and yes, this is important as it involves fairness for women & girls that are at least 50% of the population. And no one is policing what clothes children wear based on their sex - most kids wear whatever they want to school these days, including pajamas.
Former Athlete
It doesn't matter that the number is relatively small (although it's grown exponentially over the last 10 years due to social media, much of that is probably just youthful experimentation). What matters is that the leaders of institutions naively embraced the maximal demands of trans activists, thinking that this was the next wave of civil rights, when in reality it is an incoherent belief system which came from the scribblings of post-modern academics and a self-destructive subculture with sordid origins in street prostitution and transvestite fetishism. Everyone has the rights to their beliefs but they can't be imposed on others.
Also, the medical industry that's sprouted up to cater to these individuals is completely corrupt, and is setting up thousands of children and young adults for future misery because they refuse to engage with the fact that their interventions do not have any proven long-term therapeutic value, and in fact are lying to and misleading parents on this front.
When it comes to sports, simply making the mens league open would make the most sense, as well as having intramurals which are open to all. It's so simple but they don't want to do it, because it's not about actually providing opportunities for these kids, but for getting everyone to go along with their belief system.
- IAST