School banned from Vt. activities after forfeiting game to team with transgender athlete

[sl8]

https://www.wcax.com/2023/03/13/school-banned-vt-activities-after-forfeiting-game-team-with-transgender-athlete/

School banned from Vt. activities after forfeiting game to team with transgender athlete

By Christina Guessferd
Published: Mar. 13, 2023 at 6:20 PM EDT|Updated: 12 hours ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - A private religious school has been banned from all state-run activities and athletics with other schools in Vermont. Monday, the Vermont Principals’ Association issued a letter to Mid Vermont Christian School announcing the decision after the girls basketball team refused to play against an opponent with a transgender student-athlete.

On Feb. 21, the White River Junction-based school was scheduled to play Long Trail, a small co-ed, college prep school in Dorset.

The letter says forfeiting that Division IV playoff game violates VPA policies, which they say align with state law. Those policies are the first and second on the list of rules: commitment to racial, gender-fair and disability awareness; and the policy of gender identity.

[...]

Mid Vermont Christian Head of School Vicky Fogg justified the move in a statement to the Valley News, writing, “We withdrew from the tournament because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.” She continued, “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”

[...]

[vercetti2021]

2. What the fuck?

I've been off DU to avoid this shit for my own mental health which is drastically falling apart for the last few months. Modified fucking male?! What the actual fucking shit is that suppose to mean? Oh transwomen aren't women? Just men that got modified? Jesus Goddamn Christ.

Reword what you said. That shit is straight up painful. We already have it tough trying to get allies and support and to be identified correctly.

[LuvLoogie]

11. Tone policing? Seriously!?

Learn to deal with the consequences of your words and action.

Police yourself.

[Oneironaut]

17. Transphobia is pretty much accepted here.

Whenever this site argues about sports or bathrooms, they don’t actually care. Instead, they want to get their “Aktually, trans women are MEN! Teehee!” digs in.

Isn’t it wonderful how our supposed “allies” love stabbing us in the back?

[obamanut2012]

28. Indeed itvis

Literal praise for folks like Joanne Rowling.

[mopinko]

24. please tell me that was some noob,

and not a long time member.
i’m sorry hon.

[SheltieLover]

27. ...

[LuvLoogie]

12. Sometimes people aren't aware that fire is hot.

Often cluelessness or too much alcohol gets mistaken for bravery.

Also, language is often used passive aggressively to inflict damage. This is a tool of narcissists and sociopaths who feign ignorance or curiosity.

Just sayin'

[Fix The Stupid]

14. My cat's breath smells like cat food.

Just sayin'

[stopdiggin]

25. Oh, thank you!

the perfect response! ----- -----

[multigraincracker]

10. What would one ban a person born

as a undetermined sex? Everything?

[Ilsa]

13. Then please, get yourself educated on the subject. It'll

be an eye-opener for you. Maybe you should avoid posting on the subject until you understand it better. (BTW, I've had to do my own reading on the subject a number of years ago.)

[hunter]

15. High school sports are a bizarre religious cult in the U.S.A.

The only reason they ought to exist is to promote physically active lifestyles and friendly socialization. Anything else is bullshit.

Pro sports isn't anything more than entertainment, no different than acting or playing in a band, the major difference being sports generally takes a greater toll on the human body.

I was a klutzy skinny autistic spectrum kid and there was no fixing that. PE in middle and high school was a misery. I really didn't understand the attraction of sports until I started playing coed recreational softball in college. That was fun.

If I'd have had more experiences like that in middle and high school, instead of the competitive crap, and if I hadn't been beaten bloody a few times by a few celebrated high school jocks, then maybe I'd have a better opinion of high school sports.

Nobody is trans just to win at sports. The sports cultists need to get over it.

[Old Crank]

3. There are a lot of unknowns involving transgender athletes

This is going to be a difficult subject to work with because the available data is thin.
Reading The Economist, which has some pretty reasoned opinions about this transgender issue and they don't come down fully on one side or the other. The answers aren't yes and no. It does appear, so far, that if a biological male goes through puberty, that person will have a physical strength boost that the majority of women can't match. Brute strength dports, rugby, shot put, might present n advantage. The data is all over the map for speed, flexibility sports.

There is going to have to be much more research and serious thought put into the regulations for competitive sports.

Right now I side against the school.

[rlegro]

18. However....

Irrespective of trans biology there are unnaturally strong and tall girls who come along and with increasing frequency. Same with boys. Also, playing skill and athleticism are at least as important as strength and size. Otherwise, all 7-foot players would be awesome, and many are not. So unless that VT school wants all athletes on every team to be virtually of equal size and talent, an impossible arrangement, they are just bigoted.

[Old Crank]

22. That is always the case wtih athletics.

There are always some in every age group and gender that are bigger, stronger, faster.
Until you get to the top of the pro ranks and everyone is almost a freak of nature. The question, most likely past grade/middle school, is if there is an extra advantage. Much more research needs to be done. As I said currently the numbers are all over the map. Top end women are still faster than trans-women. I don't think there is data to show an advantage below highschool age.

The school is wrong. Unforetunately the kids in the school are the ones being punished for the adults actions.

[MichMan]

30. Merging all sports instead of separating by sex would eliminate the issue

Like you said, there is as much difference between athletes of the same sex as there is between the sexes.

[rlegro]

19. However....

Irrespective of trans biology there are unnaturally strong and tall girls who come along and with increasing frequency. Same with boys. Also, playing skill and athleticism are at least as important as strength and size. Otherwise, all 7-foot players would be awesome, and many are not. So unless that VT school truly wants all athletes on every team to be of equal size and talent, an impossible arrangement, they are just bigoted. This really is about inclusiveness.

[FreepFryer]

6. Just substitute a racial term for "biological male" or "transgender" in the school's reply...

...and you get the real truth of where these bigots are coming from.

The same handpicked pseudoscientific arguments have been used to justify segregation before (and still).

The school freely discriminated on the basis of gender identity, they are at fault.

And the ones trying to do it at the legislative level are no different.

[stopdiggin]

20. is 'pseudoscience' the correct term

for data (or correspondingly, lack thereof) on performance variation? If so - why then are rules for 'hormone replacement' therapy considered to be appropriate measures in these same contexts? Is the replacement therapy 'pseudoscience' as well?

I'm not sure this one can be painted in the same terms as the bigotry and prejudices of the past. Perhaps time - and further information - will help clear the picture. But I don't think FFryer is alone in seeing the picture as somewhat cloudy at present.

Deviating from that post ... All of the above without any endorsement, on my part, of the Christian schools lack of sportsmanship and withdrawal. (which probably was informed by prejudice and anti-woke sentiment) I think the rules, and a common decency, say that you go ahead and play the game - and possibly express reservations at a later time.

[FreepFryer]

29. many more people have transitioned than competitive athletes have transitioned.

the science for the former general case is far more established than the latter, specific case.

Conflating the two is a lot like conflating the difference between genetics and eugenics., as was done to justify racial sports and other forms of social segregation.

[Paladin]

8. Well and properly done, Vermont. (nt)

[AllyCat]

9. Christofascists persecuted again!

[Lunabell]

26. Good for Vermont!

Most of these christo-fascists never gave a damn about women's athletics until now when trans people are fighting for their right to live as our constitution guarantees: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. LGBTQIA folks aren't putting up with their agenda for our lives. It's called feedom.

[LiberalFighter]

31. Personally I don't think private or parochial schools should participate in state tournaments

with public schools.

[mountain grammy]

32. I agree..

This is shoving their religion down everyone's throat, and that's the consequence of allowing them to play. No, let them play each other.

[SheltieLover]

33. Absolutely!