Aprivate Christian school that forfeited a girls’ basketball game rather than play against a team with a transgender player has been banned from Vermont school sporting events.
The Vermont Principals’ Association, which oversees school athletics, said Monday afternoon that Mid Vermont Christian School in Quechee will no longer be eligible to participate in sports and other sponsored activities.
The decision was announced after a Monday morning meeting of the Vermont Principals’ Association executive committee, during which members decided "that policies have been violated at the school level and thus there is an immediate determination of ineligibility for Mid-Vermont Christian in VPA sanctioned activities and tournaments going forward.”
Specifically, Mid Vermont violated the organization’s anti-discrimination and gender identity policies, the organization told the school in a letter of ineligibility. Those policies allow athletes to play on the team that is “consistent with their gender identity” and prohibit discrimination “based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.”
A representative of Mid Vermont Christian did not immediately respond to a request for comment via email and phone call.
Mid Vermont Christian School drew international headlines last month after its girls’ basketball team refused to play against Long Trail School, which had a transgender athlete on its basketball team.
In its letter, the Vermont Principals’ Association cited that forfeit and the “corresponding rationale” that the school shared with media outlets as the basis for its decision.
Mid Vermont Christian’s head of school, Vicky Fogg, said in a statement last month that the school believed “playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”
After the school withdrew its girls’ team from the Vermont Division IV state tournament playoffs, Mid Vermont Christian went on to place second in the boys’ tournament, which concluded Saturday.
https://vtdigger.org/2023/03/13/vermont-religious-school-that-refused-to-play-team-with-trans-player-banned-from-sporting-events/
