Submitted by Andrew Bowman
This is an opinion piece on Policy 123.2
This has been a developing story over the last few months, and has been previously reported on:
School sports are a cornerstone of American youth culture. As a cultural institution, they provide an important opportunity for parents to teach their children how to better themselves physically and mentally, as well as giving kids an opportunity to reach out to each other and establish their own network of friendships. As teams become increasingly interconnected, they strengthen the fabric of the surrounding community by connecting families together through shared interests, values, and experiences. And as society has evolved, we have come to recognize this fact. It is no coincidence that Jackie Robinson’s jump from the Negro Leagues to the MLB is the premier example of American cultural desegregation. Therefore, it is imperative to the health of our society that youth sports are made as accessible as possible to allow children and parents alike to weave themselves into the cultural tapestry of their communities.
Unfortunately, this principle is at risk of becoming collateral damage in the West Shore School District, where the Board will be voting on Policy 123.2 “Sex-Based Distinctions in Athletics”. This policy empowers the district to segregate interscholastic and district-sponsored intramural sports into male and female teams in compliance with the Trump White House’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. There are three exceptions to these otherwise segregational lines which the district must provide reasonable accommodations for:
- if a female-designated student wishes to compete in a sport that only has a male-designated team
- a prepubescent male-designated student wishes to compete on a female-designated team
- if a male-designated student wishes to compete on a female-designated team that provides significantly more participation opportunities than its male-designated counterpart, but only if the individual would not displace anyone designated female, pose an increased safety risk, or noticeably improve the team’s performance This policy is the school district’s solution to public concerns that changing societal attitudes regarding gender will lead to the exploitation of female-oriented leagues by bad actors who wish to use the genetic advantage that male puberty confers to achieve higher placements. While providing a safe and fair playing field for students is a goal shared by all, this policy implements it in a way that undermines the ability of transgender youth and their families to partake in sports culture.
The medical science surrounding sex is not as simple as the binary we are presented with as children suggests, and as such, any fair and just policy must account for these complexities. Policy 123.2 instead shoves many of those complexities off to the margin, placing a label of “otherness” on the entire gender-nonconforming community for the sake of an issue that has yet to occur in the district or be legally settled. For example, the policy makes no mention of students undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), which steadily changes the recipient’s body (and therefore, athletic abilities) to bring them in line with those of their preferred gender. Under this policy, transgender females receiving HRT would face the same safety vulnerabilities competing against cisgender men that 123.2 purports to protect women from while at the same time allowing transgender males receiving HRT to dominate women’s sports in the same fashion that 123.2 is designed to prevent. This policy also makes no provision for intersex students, whose chromosomal makeup and physical traits do not reflect the commonly cited XX or XY that is used to enforce gender binaries. This policy could subject intersex individuals to the same issues as students undergoing HRT as well as harassment for being “too competitive” even for advantages such as technique or experience, or result in students being excluding from sex-specific teams entirely should they not tick the boxes for either sex. There’s not even a provision that allows gender-nonconforming students to practice alongside students of their preferred gender, something that would mitigate the damage this policy would do by allowing the students to socialize and team-build in an informal environment. This is something that even the Executive-Order-compliant NCAA allows. Instead, Policy 123.2 more closely resembles the current PIAA guidelines, which are likely subject to change should the Presidency flip parties in four years. By ignoring these groups, the West Shore District has essentially labeled them as undeserving of the same social and developmental opportunities of other individuals. In other words: Second Class.
This policy calls to mind last year’s private meeting between the West Shore School Board and the right-wing law firm Independence Law Center, drawing dozens of protesters to the District’s building (source Pennlive). On Thursday, April 17, board member Abigail Tierney said that 123.2 echoed a policy that the ILC proposed, and that despite the fact that the policy had been sent to committee multiple times, it never left that ILC framework. Tireney was also concerned that the policy would not hold up in the 3rd Circuit Court and recommended that until the issue was more settled in legal circles, the district should handle gender-nonconforming athletes on a case by case basis. This was met with opposition from Board President Kelly Brent, who is expected to vote for the policy alongside Heidi Thomas, Amanda Davis, Brenda Cox, and other members of the board.
Call to action
If you wish to take action to prevent the West Shore School District from passing this regressive policy, the best thing you can do is get as many LGBTQ+ supporters as you can to the May 8th meeting at 6:30 PM at 507 Fishing Creek Road. If you’re not a resident of the district, wearing Pride gear will communicate your stance on the issue. If you are a resident, you can comment in-person before the vote by grabbing a blue form from the back of the meeting room, filling it out (select business items), and submitting it on the table at the front of the room. You can also comment electronically by emailing BoardSecretary@wssd.k12.pa.us with your full name, address, and school if you are a student. All electronic comments submitted before noon on the day of the meeting will be shared with the board in their entirety prior to the meeting.