The Biden administration released a proposal last month that would forbid schools and colleges across the nation from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes. “The coach says that when the boys outnumber the girls that is when he will make a stink about it,” Park said. Ultimate frisbee is not an MIAA sport but follows guidelines from the association. Park takes exception to four boys being allowed on the team, and he said coaches and the school’s athletic director have told him the rules are out of their control. His daughter, a sophomore at Northampton High School, plays on the girl’s ultimate frisbee team. Northampton resident Billy Park organized Friday’s protest, looking to speak with MIAA officials.

“There will be all kinds of ridiculous arguments made.” “If you’re an athlete, in the moment of winning or losing, you’re going to be upset by anything that’s perceived as ‘If not for that, I would’ve won,’” Love said. Friday’s event, for educators, coaches, athletic directors and school administrators, focused on “the intersectionality of identities and how they relate to privilege and discrimination within sports,” “the healthy development of adolescent boys,” and more. Love said she finds it “phenomenal” that the MIAA holds an annual diversity, equity and inclusion symposium. Julie Love runs the School Nurse Liaison Project, in which she works with Massachusetts educators to figure out how to help students who are or may be contemplating transitioning from male to female, or vice versa. It is unclear how many transgender females compete on girls’ teams in the state. Local schools are responsible for determining eligibility of students who want to participate in its athletic program, according to the MIAA’s gender participation policy. “I am so afraid that, who is to say in a year or two, there’s going to be a biological male playing and pitching, just blowing everyone out of the water,” Pareira told the Herald. The Foxboro resident believes this position infringes on her daughter’s rights and privacy. Lisa Pareira said she worries about the future for her seventh-grade daughter who plays soccer and softball.

Massachusetts residents are bringing the national debate over transgender athletes’ right to participate in girls’ and women’s sports home.Ī dozen protesters holding signs bearing the messages “Save women’s sports,” “Support fair sports for women and girls,” among others, clashed with opponents outside of a diversity, equity and inclusion symposium at the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association headquarters in Franklin on Friday.Īn increasing number of states are banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, but athletic opportunities in Massachusetts “must be afforded to students in accordance with their identified gender, not necessarily their birth-assigned gender,” according to the MIAA handbook.

We should all be feminists