A Christian high school declined to play a girls basketball game because the other team had a transgender player.
On Feb. 21, Mid Vermont Christian School was set to play against Long Trail School. MVCS Head of School Vicky Fogg said the team decided not to take part in the game. This resulted in the game being forfeited.
Fogg explained to NBC News they “believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.
According to the Vermont Principal’s Association Athletic policies, “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.”
A Vermont Christian high school chose to forfeit a girls basketball game because the opposing team had a transgender player, according to the head of school. https://t.co/3TfhVqf0oM
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 2, 2023
However, Fogg said in her statement to NBC News she believes “allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”
According to British Journal of Sports Medicine, transgender women had an advantage against biological females with a “9% faster mean run speed” in sports, even after a year of taking female hormones.
Amanda Rohdenburg, the associate director of Outright Vermont, which is a nonprofit organization committed to “build a Vermont where all LGBTQ+ youth have hope, equity, and power, said the actions of the school show that the state of Vermont “is not immune to anti-trans hate.”
“What we’re seeing in Vermont and around the country is a heightened and coordinated effort to stop trans youth from existing and thriving as people,” she said in an emailed statement, per NBC News. “Our primary focus is to go where harm is done and to ensure that young people feel safe and seen. We want for the trans youth who is directly harmed and her family to know we are here for them.
She added, “We also want all queer and trans youth in Vermont to know that we are here.”
NBC News reported that when they reached out, Long Trail School “did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.”