Girls Basketball Team Forfeits Game

In decision to not play against male on opposing team, Vermont school cites fairness and safety

By Jackson Elliott

Before they left the Vermont Division IV state tournament, the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) Eagles were the 12th seed in the girls’ basketball tournament.

But they quit the tournament because they didn’t want to play against a boy.

Their first opponent, the Long Trail Mountain Lions, had a transgender-identifying player.

According to the head of MVCS, playing against a man could endanger female players.

“We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg told The Epoch Times.

“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”

The Mountain Lions are the basketball tournament’s fifth seed and have won 11 of their past 12 games.

16 States

and the District of Columbia allow high school boys to play against girls without restriction, according to TransAthletes.com.

Men Versus Women

Men have massive biological advantages over women, studies say. Narrower hips give men a more efficient stride. Testosterone builds bigger muscles. The average American man is five inches taller than the average woman, population statistics show.

These advantages put high school boys in a different league from women physically.

High school boy athletes consistently dominate female Olympic finalists, according to statistics collected by BoysVsWomen.com.

“We are asking girls to compete against a class of athletes that outperforms the best female athletes who have ever lived,” BoysVsWomen.com creator Jake Teater told The Epoch Times in a message.

A 17-year-old boy performs between 9 percent and 16 percent better than girls of the same age, said BoysVsWomen.com. This gap is equivalent to the gap between a 17-year-old and a 13-year-old, Teater said.

“Allowing male athletes to compete in high school events for female athletes is as unfair as is allowing high school seniors to compete in events that are specifically for junior high-aged youths,” he said.

Biological advantages put high school boys in a different league from women physically. Statistics show that high school boy athletes consistently dominate female Olympic finalists.

If the 2016 high school boys’ New Balance Nationals Outdoors track and field champions were allowed to compete with the 2016 women’s Olympic track and field finalists, the boys would win 34 medals to women’s five.

In Vermont, athletes who identify as transgender can legally compete in whatever gender category they like.

The Vermont Principals Association (VPA), which supervises the league in which MCVS plays basketball, doesn’t have rules to exclude transgender players who still have male levels of testosterone from women’s sports.

MVCS’s website emphasizes its Christian commitment.

“The mission of the school is to glorify God by preparing students for college and for life through a program of academic excellence established in Biblical truth,” its mission statement reads.

According to Jay Nichols, the VPA’s executive director, it’s not the first time a transgender player has played in the girls’ basketball league.

The VPA oversees sports for 75 member high schools.

“The Vermont Principals’ Association supports school leaders to improve the equity and quality of educational opportunities for all students,” the VPA’s website reads.

In the past, the VPA has changed the names of high school mascots that were insufficiently politically correct.

“We’ve had transgender students participating in sports for a long time. This is the first time anything like this has happened,” Nichols told The Epoch Times.

He added he’s not sure why MVCS didn’t leave the tournament the first time boys competed in the girls’ league.

The Epoch Times reached out to MVCS but received a short written statement that didn’t address this topic.

The VPA has received the occasional parental complaint about transgender players participating in the league.

“Parents write letters and stuff sometimes, saying, ‘It’s not fair that so-and-so gets to play,’” Nichols said.

No school has forfeited a game before, he said.

Rules Changes Upcoming

The VPA supervises a major Vermont high school basketball league. Nichols said that at its next meeting on March 13, the VPA will decide whether to change its rules or membership criteria to prevent MVCS from forfeiting another game.

“It’ll be one of the agenda items to have that conversation with the covering board to see what they think about the situation, and whether or not they think there need to be any adjustments to our rules,” he said.

Nichols said the basketball league must obey Vermont law. No matter what the meeting decides, boys will continue to play girls’ sports.

Vermont isn’t the only state where it’s against the law to bar a male who claims transgenderism from entering women’s activities.

According to TransAthletes.com, 16 states and the District of Columbia all allow high school boys to play against girls without restriction.

Among the remaining states, three require sex change surgery for transgender athletes to play, six ban transgender students from playing, 16 states restrict transgender participation in sports in some way, and eight have no laws on the subject.

When asked whether it was fair for high school boys to play sports against women despite their many biological advantages, Nichols pointed to state law.

“Vermont law says that students can identify as they identify. If they choose to play on the girls’ hockey team or identify as a girl at school, then for all purposes on our end, they’re going to be treated that way,” he said.

Although this situation upsets some parents, most feel OK with it, he said.

Nichols added that teenage boys aren’t switching genders for sports dominance. Transgender-identifying teens face enough peer pressure, bullying, and bad mental health outcomes that the change isn’t attractive to most students, he said.

“One of the illusions that get put out there a lot is that kids will make believe they’re one or the other so they can win championships in sports,” he said. “And all the research has been done on that pretty much debunked that.”

He added that when girls choose not to invite boys who say they are girls into their league, they’re not being inclusive.

“Any time any kid gets a message that they’re not valued or that someone thinks they shouldn’t be included, that has a negative impact on that kid and their family and their friends and anybody else that cares about that person,” he said.