Christian High School Girls Basketball Team Forfeits Tourney Spot Due to Trans Opponent

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Students at Central Academy walked out of school over the noon hour and marched to the Governor's mansion to protest a new anti-transgender law. Conservative officials in Iowa have joined other states in enacting laws to prevent transgender students from competing in sports. Phil Roeder from Des Moines, IA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Vermont’s governor, Republican Phil Scott, supports trans rights in schools. Last spring, he urged residents to make the state “a more inclusive and welcoming place” and to approach conversations about transgender issues “from a place of empathy and understanding.”

Christian School Defends Right to Act on Its Beliefs

In 2022, Vermont enacted anti-discrimination laws, saying schools must follow them in order to receive state tuition funding. When Fogg from MVCS wrote to seek funding, she said if the state’s rules “conflict with any of the school’s beliefs, including on marriage and sexuality,” then her school could not “affirm that particular aspect of” the law.

Fogg’s letter from last January states: “As a religious organization, the school has a statutory and constitutional right to make decisions based on its religious beliefs, including hiring and disciplining employees, associating with others, and in its admissions, conduct and operations policies and procedures.”

On Facebook, under a recent photo of an MVCS basketball team, someone comments: “They’re the real Champs! I support trans rights, but not in sports. The biological differences cannot be ignored. It would be unfair and unsafe. It’s the same as cheating.” Someone else concurs, but another person writes: “You’re a deplorable bigot!”

The debate about transgender athletes continues to heat up. More states are restricting participation to the team that matches a person’s biological sex, not their gender identity.

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Stephanie Martin
Stephanie Martin, a freelance writer and editor in Denver, has spent her entire 30-year journalism career in Christian publishing. She loves the Word and words, is a binge reader and grammar nut, and is fanatic (as her family can attest) about Jeopardy! and pro football.

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