In deep blue Washington state, where state leaders say men in women’s sports is just fine and dandy, one tiny school district is defying that policy.
This from westernjournal.com.
According to the Seattle Times:
In early May, the Quilcene School Board passed a resolution requiring that student-athletes participate in the gender of their birth.
The 3-2 vote bucked state law and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rule book.
However, the ruling is in keeping with the Trump administration’s definition of Title IX, which says women’s sports are only open to those born female.
Chris Reykdal, Washington state superintendent of public instruction, has said that regardless of what the president says, Washington state will live by its own rules.
Reykdal’s statement:
State law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, and we will not back down from that.
The Quilcene School District had 93 students in grades 9-12 and one school building serving all of the district’s prekindergarten through 12th grade students.
The district is the second to go against state law. In February, the Tumwater School Board said students have to be born female to play in women’s sports after two players on a girls’ basketball team refused to play against a team with a male on the squad.
In April, the state’s athletic association narrowly failed to approve a rule change to limits girls’ sports to females.
According to KCPQ-TV:
Limiting girls’ sports to females prompted debate on the school board.
Board member Ron Frantz, who supported the resolution, said:
Title 9 is the law.
Board member Viviann Kuehl, who opposed it, said:
This is an interpretation, this is not the law.
Further:
The law nowhere in it says only biological males can play biological male sports, by tradition. That is not in Title 9.
Frantz said:
I’m probably the only one who’s read the whole thing of Title 9.
Kuehl said:
I did myself, it doesn’t say that.
According to the Port Townsend Leader:
When the resolution was first considered in March, one resident told the board males do not belong in female sports.
A resident whose name was not given said:
If you want to identify as a Christmas tree, that is fine with me, but I don’t think it is OK for a biological male to be able to go into a locker room and strip down in front of a little girl.
Further:
[And] It’s not fair in sports, it’s just not. You can be what you want to be; I just don’t think it’s right.
