Washington School Board Votes To Ban Boys From Girls' Sports After HS Basketball Player Refuses To Play
A school board in Washington State voted Thursday to ban male student-athletes from playing for girls’ sports teams. The decision comes just a few weeks after a Tumwater High School basketball player sat out her last game of the season in protest of a trans player on the opposing team.
The Tumwater School District board of directors passed the decision, 3-1.
The meeting was then immediately interrupted by protests from trans activists who disagreed with the board’s decision — including one person who claimed that banning boys from girls' sports would lead to suicides.
The vote (and subsequent commotion) comes just days after the school district opened an investigation into 15-year-old Tumwater student-athlete Frances Staudt because she refused to participate in a basketball game against a team with a trans-identifying male player.
Staudt was accused of "harassment" and "bullying" after allegedly "misgendering" the male opponent.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep males out of girls' and women's sports — promising to remove federal funding from schools and programs that don't comply.
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The current Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) allows transgender students to participate in sports based on their gender identity.
However, the organization is set to consider two proposed amendments in April. One is to create a separate athletic program specifically for transgender athletes, and the other is to keep participation in girls’ sports limited only to those who were born female.