A Vermont high school girls’ basketball team forfeited an out-of-state competition after refusing to face a team with a transgender player.
Last Tuesday, the girls’ basketball team from Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS), the Eagles, were scheduled to play the Long Trail Mountain Lions in the fourth round of the playoffs before the Christian school withdrew and forfeited its spot in the tournament.
Vicky Fogg, the head of the school, claimed that having the high school ladies compete against a biological male on the opposite team was unfair and dangerous.
According to state law, any problems with students’ participation in sports teams that don’t match their biological gender must be handled on a case-by-case basis. State law bans discrimination against student-athletes based on their gender identification.
The agency further asserts that transgender children shouldn’t be forced to use a restroom or locker room that doesn’t correspond to their gender identity. Some schools have recently experienced friction due to Vermont’s transgender policy.
A transgender student was misgendered in a private social media post by a Vermont middle school girls’ soccer coach who was protecting his daughter, who had complained about the player using the girls’ locker room. The coach was disciplined last autumn.
After protesting the biological male student changing in the same area, a number of female students at the same school were reportedly prohibited from the locker room.
Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont, a Republican, has argued frequently in favor of transgender students’ rights in the classroom. In a statement from April 2022, Scott cited studies that suggested there was a higher likelihood of sexual assault against kids who were prohibited from accessing the restroom and locker room that corresponded to their gender identification.
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Discrimination Against Student Athletes
According to regional media, the Long Trail Mountain Lions’ forfeit advanced them to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by the No. 4 seed Arlington.
Vermont state law, it is unlawful to discriminate against student-athletes based on their gender identity, and any disagreement regarding a student’s eligibility to participate in athletics because their biological gender differs from their gender identity must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
As stated by the state’s Education Agency, the best practice is for giving transgender and gender nonconforming pupils the same opportunity to participate in physical education as given to all other students.
Another suggestion by the agency was that transgender kids not be forced to use a restroom or locked room that clashes with the student’s gender identity.
The Mid Vermont Christian School wrote to the agency earlier this year asking for permission to keep receiving public tuition funds and making the case that, as a religious institution, it shouldn’t be required to abide by all state anti-discrimination rules.
A transgender student’s misgendering on a private social media account occurred last fall, leading to the suspension of a Vermont middle school girls’ soccer coach who was defending his daughter after she raised concerns about a biologically male player using the girls’ locker room.
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