A private Christian school in Vermont that forfeited a girls’ basketball game against a team with a biological male “transgender” player has been banned from participating in upcoming sporting events.
The Vermont Principals’ Association, which oversees school sporting events, announced on Monday that Mid Vermont Christian School would be ineligible to participate in sporting events and other activities done through the organization.
“The VPA again reiterates its ongoing support of transgender student-athletes as not only a part of building an inclusive community for each student to grow and thrive, but also as a clear expectation by Vermont state law(s) in the Agency of Education Best Practices, and in VPA Policy regarding transgender student athletes,” the announcement said.
Furthermore, the announcement included the VPA policy on “gender identity,” which is when a person feels like their gender does not align with their biological sex.
“The VPA is committed to providing all students with the opportunity to participate in VPA activities in a manner consistent with their gender identity as is outlined in the Vermont Agency of Education Best Practices For Schools For Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Students,” the policy said. “The prohibition against discrimination includes discrimination based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.”
In a letter to MVCS, the VPA said that it violated the organization’s 1st and 2nd policies, which are “commitment to racial, gender-fair and disability awareness” and “policy on gender identity.”
Townhall covered March 3 how MVCS was scheduled to compete against Long Trail School on Feb. 21, but pulled out once it learned that the opposing team included a male-bodied athlete.
“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,” Vicky Fogg, the head of MVCS, said in a statement at the time.
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general,” Fogg added.
The issue of male athletes who believe that they are transgender infiltrating women’s sports has made international headlines. Last month, world-renowned surfer Bethany Hamilton, who the movie “Soul Surfer” is based on, said that she would no longer be competing in professional surfing if the World Surf League moved forward with its inclusive transgender policy.
Last month, Townhall interviewed Riley Gaines, a former swimmer at the University of Kentucky who competed against Will “Lia” Thomas, the biological male swimmer who began identifying as transgender and competing on the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania. At last year’s NCAA championships, Gaines and Thomas tied in a race, but Thomas got to take the trophy home.
“Within the past year, in terms of progress, there has not been a clear solution to the problem [of transgender athletes] at hand. There has still been an influx of biological men competing in women’s sports,” Gaines, who is a spokeswoman at the Independent Women’s Forum, told Townhall.
"I think the Lia Thomas situation, bringing this to the national stage, opened a door. People see an opportunity when they see this, and they’re willing to take advantage of it. At the expense of, of course, female athletes,” she added.
“If this continues, it’s a slippery slope. It’s truly only a matter of time before one transgender athlete winning a national title in the women’s category becomes three and five and 10 and so on,” Gaines concluded. “I think truthfully it will become…the integrity of women’s sports will be lost.”
Gaines, along with other female athletes, supported a new piece of legislation, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R) and Florida Rep. Greg Steube’s (R) “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.” The Act would strengthen Title IX protections to ensure that only biological women are participating in women’s sports and make it a violation of federal law if a recipient of federal funds allows male athletes to compete in women’s sports.
“Throughout my coaching career, I saw the incomparable success of Title IX and the educational and personal opportunities sports have provided to millions of female athletes. For more than 50 years, this law has empowered young women to grow personally, compete professionally, and receive scholarships to further their education,” Sen. Tuberville told Townhall.
“The positive impacts of a fair playing field in women’s sports are unmatched, but the Biden administration is forcing female athletes to the sidelines by allowing biological males to compete where they do not belong,” he continued. “It’s unfair, it’s unsafe, and it’s wrong. We cannot stand by and let girls and women in sports lose to the radical left’s agenda. I am proud to introduce this legislation, and will continue fighting to preserve a level playing field for all current and future female athletes.”
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