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*This week, two female students and their parents filed a lawsuit alleging that a transgender girl was unfairly kicked out of a coveted spot on the cross country team.
*Parents vowed further protests at this week’s school board meeting.
Riverside Unified School District became the latest battleground over transgender athletes’ participation in sports this week after two female students filed a lawsuit claiming the transgender girl forced them out of a coveted position on the cross country team. are.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles, alleges that when the girls protested the perceived unfairness of the situation by wearing T-shirts that read “Save Girls’ Sports,” school officials He also claims to have compared it to wearing a swastika. In front of Jewish students.
The lawsuit alleges that the district’s policies and practices “unreasonably restrict the girls’ freedom of expression” and deny them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the two girls and their parents by Faith and Freedom Defenders, which describes itself as a “nonprofit Department of Justice dedicated to defending religious freedom in court.”
Riverside County officials could not be reached for comment Saturday, but in a statement published in the San Francisco Chronicle, district spokeswoman Liz Pinney-McGria said, “California law provides Discrimination against students based on self-identification or gender expression is prohibited, specifically.” Prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. ” Her statement further added, “The protections we provide to all students are not only compliant with the law, but also consistent with our core values such as equity and well-being. ” he added.
Those sentiments did not satisfy the large number of people who showed up to protest at Thursday’s Riverside Unified School Board meeting, with some vowing to return with more protesters in the coming weeks. .
“I’m here today to let you all know,” parent Jose Carrillo told the board. “After today, you’re going to have supporters here at every school board meeting…we’re going to be in even bigger numbers. It’s going to be standing room only.”
He added that board members should be mindful of the election results that returned Donald Trump to the White House. “This election woke people up,” he said.
School board members did not address the issue directly because it was not on the official agenda.
The fight in Riverside is one of a series of fights taking place across California over trans women in sports. The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs most high school sports in California, allows transgender athletes to join teams based on their gender identity. Many parents and students oppose the policy. For example, a Christian high school in Merced canceled a volleyball game this month rather than play against a San Francisco private school that had a trans student on its team, according to the San Jose Mercury News. At the college level, a former San Jose State player and assistant coach filed a lawsuit seeking to ban transgender players from championship games.
The lawsuit against Riverside Unified describes a dispute over transgender athletes that erupted after coaches selected runners to compete in a high-profile cross country meet earlier this fall.
One student, known as TS in court documents, was an 11th grade student who was an avid runner and had taken summer school courses to free up time in his fall schedule and increase his training time. She was also the team captain and earned a coveted spot in the Mount SAC Invitational, one of the most important high school cross country events in California.
Later, a transgender girl, known in court documents as ML, transferred to their school.
According to the complaint, ML did not train with the team for long periods of time and did not attend all required events. Nevertheless, ML with the faster time was awarded the top spot and TS was eliminated from the “Team Sweepstakes” category of the Mount SAC competition. As a result, TS “missed the opportunity to compete in high-profile competitions and lost valuable opportunities for university recruitment and recognition,” the complaint said.
The other plaintiff in the lawsuit is on the junior varsity team, but if one of the varsity runners gets sick or injured, he could compete for a spot on the varsity team as the top runner.
Both students claimed that having a transgender player on the team robbed them of opportunities.
They decided to stage a protest at the Mt. SAC convention, the complaint said. Along with about a dozen other parents and grandparents, they showed up to the event wearing blue T-shirts with “Save Women’s Sports” written on the front and back. XX [does not equal] XY”
The suit says the two students who wore the shirts are devout Christians and that the shirts were designed to “express their religious views and advocate the protection of fair competition for girls based on their biological sex.” It was said that it was something he had done.
They also claim that “the messages on the shirts were not directed at teammates, students, or individuals.”
Nevertheless, when they wore the shirts during cross country practice on Nov. 1, the school’s athletic director said the shirts were creating a hostile environment and required them to take them off or cover them. I told him that there was.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the school district’s actions to limit the speech of students wearing T-shirts unconstitutional. They are also asking the court to rule that the school district violated Title IX by failing to provide equal treatment to girls in sports, and are seeking monetary damages.
The district has not yet responded to the allegations in court.
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