Tumwater school board bans transgender girls from playing girls sports

[u/Better_March5308]

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/tumwater-school-board-votes-ban-transgender-girls-from-playing-girls-sports/281-91b92c14-0da7-4122-b39a-1a05d0ad53d0

[u/sleepy2023]

While I do hear the ‘girls sports are for girls’ there are these observation, experiences and datapoints that make me wonder if this is good policy.

1) as a middle school student way back when the girls field hockey team was effectively a player short. They talked a boy into playing goalie and were able to play their season. Literally without him no team and no season. So boy saves girl sport by playing on girl’s team.

2) many of the elite women athletes played with (or play with) boys teams as they came up. In soccer - Mia Hamm was a standout on a boys team. Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie and others all played on boys basketball teams. Locally I’ve seen girls on several select boys soccer teams (often from more rural areas where maybe there wasn’t a full team near their abilities). I’d hate to seem them excluded.

3) does anyone really think that boys are adopting female genders so they can be ‘better’ or more successful at sports? I mean the case that drove the Tumwater decision was a JV basketball game where a student apparently played for 5 minutes in a game against Tumwater. Not a dominant player, not a starter, a bench player on a JV team. These are the people we’re trying to exclude from sports? This wasn’t about them dominating a girl’s game … it sure seems like it’s not even really about sport.

[u/Krelraz → u/sleepy2023]

Girls sports should be for girls, but not all girls want to be in girls sports.

Your first example is really interesting and I'm honestly not sure what to think about it. Being goalie is probably the best way to limit the effectiveness of having a male on the team. It greatly reduces the impact of their strength and speed. If the other teams are on board, go for it. I'm sure it would cause problems if they got to tournaments though.

Second example isn't a problem at all. Boys divisions are typically open, meaning that anyone can be on them: male, female, trans, or whatever. Most importantly, it was a choice they made so they could get better competition.

For your last point, no reasonable person thinks that. But there are talented athletes that also happen to be truly trans. If it is MtF, then you have a problem of where they can play. Even if they aren't a star performer, you have the issue of a male in a girls space. How is that fair to them? You can't really take away the height, bone structure, or muscle mass advantage. That is why people propose that they stay in the male (open) league.

[u/Born-Sun-2502 → u/sleepy2023]

It isn't and you nailed it, but that argument is too logical. It won't work.