A Christian prep school in Vermont lost a playoff girls basketball game in the state championship tournament after discovering the opposing team had a transgender player on the roster.
Mid Vermont Christian School’s all-girls team, the Eagles, was scheduled to take on the Long Trail Mountain Lions in game four of the playoffs last week before the Christian school was eliminated, giving up their place in the tournament.
Institution head Vicky Fogg said it would be unfair and unsafe for the high school girls to play against a biologically male player on the other team.
In a statement to Fox News, Fogg wrote: “We have withdrawn from the tournament because we believe that playing against an opponent with a biological male endangers the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sport sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sport in general.”
A shot of the Mid Vermont Christian School college basketball team eliminated from the state championship playoffs because a transgender student played on the opposing team
Vermont state law prohibits discrimination against student-athletes based on their gender identity and states that any dispute over a student’s ability to play must be investigated on a case-by-case basis
The team’s loss sent the Long Trail Mountain Lions into the Quarterfinals where they lost to No. 4 Arlington, according to local outlets.
Vermont state law prohibits discrimination against student athletes based on their gender identity and states that any dispute over a student’s ability to play because their biological sex does not match their gender identity must be investigated on a case-by-case basis.
The state education agency says best practice is to provide transgender and gender-nonconforming students “the same opportunities to participate in physical education classes as all other students.”
“As a general rule, students should be allowed to participate in physical education and sports in accordance with the student’s gender identity. Participation in competitive athletic activities and sports will be decided on a case-by-case basis.’
The agency also advised that transgender students should not be required to use the bathroom or locked room “that conflicts with the student’s gender identity.”
Earlier this year, Mid Vermont Christian School filed a letter with the agency requesting permission to continue receiving public tuition while arguing that because it is a religious organization, it does not have to obey all state anti-discrimination laws.
“As a religious organization, the school has a legal and constitutional right to make decisions based on its religious beliefs, including in the hiring and disciplining of staff, cooperation with others, and in its admissions, conduct, and operational policies and procedures,” Fogg wrote in a letter in early January.
“By signing this form, Mid Vermont Christian School is not waiving any such rights,” she wrote, adding that to the extent that state laws conflict with the school’s beliefs on “marriage and sexuality,” the school ‘this language has not been included in its manual or online, nor can it certify this particular aspect of the Vermont Public Accommodation Act.’
The state’s progressive stance on this issue has caused problems in the past.
Last year, a Vermont middle school girls’ soccer coach was suspended last fall after he “misgendered” a transgender student on a private social media account while defending his daughter, who had opposed being a biologically male player in the girls’ locker room.
Blake Allen, 14, was suspended from Randolph Union High School after she called a “guy” a biologically male student who identifies as female (pictured: Blake and her father, Travis).
Blake Allen previously spoke out against an unidentified transgender student using the girls’ locker rooms at her Vermont high school
Blake Allen, 14, was suspended from Randolph Union High School and her father, Travis Allen, was fired without pay from his job as a girls’ soccer coach for calling the biologically male student, who identifies as a transgender girl, “a man.” .
“I was suspended for voicing my opinion that a man shouldn’t be in the women’s locker room,” Blake told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
“A lot of my classmates have been supportive, I think most people and the school are, they’re just too scared to speak up because they see all the backlash I’m getting for it.”
Travis said: “I made a social media post calling the male student male and I was punished for it. Because I got him mixed up.”
Blake then informed Carlson that the school lifted her suspension shortly after her lawsuit was filed. It’s not immediately clear if the school was aware of the lawsuit when it lifted the suspension.
“I don’t want other girls to have to feel uncomfortable about it,” Blake added. “I think everyone should be able to change easily in a fitting room where they were born. If you were born a girl, you can go into the girls locker room and get out when you’re done. It should be easy and it isn’t anymore.’