Parents Criticise School After Trans Student Breaks Sports Records

Parents at a South Australian Catholic school have criticised the administration for allowing a 13 year old trans student to compete with the girls at a recent sports day.

The student broke a number of records, causing discussion among the parents on the day.

“We were at the sports day, there was just a lot of chat about a boy (who) transitioned into a girl, (they) were breaking all the girls’ records,” one parent told news.com.au.

“All the parents were talking about it, even the primary school parents.

“It became quite noticeable. A lot of mums and dads, it became quite apparent a lot of (their) daughters were losing. It was anger — I mean, for (that child) to be competing with girls in a Catholic school of all places.”

While the school was not named, the story detailed identifying features of the student, and made multiple references to the school’s social media activity.

A number of parents have allegedly emailed the school about the issue, with one parent misgendering the student and claiming she was “a male student pretending to be a girl”.

“Numerous concerns come to mind, child safety, equality and morality being the main ones,” he wrote. “Watching this (child) compete against girls and winning at the sports day was very concerning.

“Physically boys will be able to outcompete girls, hence the need for male and female sports. Also taking from some poor girl an opportunity to further herself in her athletics.”

“We send our children to this school for Catholic structure, rules that are set for all to adhere to and a safer environment than a public school.”

Trans women in sports continue to be a political football

The news.com article was also discussed on Sunday night on SkyNews, with host Danica De Giorgio suggesting that the Liberals’ refusal to align themselves with transphobic policies contributed to their loss at the Federal election last week.

“In the end, weak men want to compete against women, and they put on the skirt and say, ‘I’m a woman now and I want to compete against you'”, said Sky News commentator Gary Hardgrave.

“But even weaker men support those people in that decision.”

Former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said earlier in the year that allowing trans women to compete as women was “not in the spirit of sport“.

“It’s one of those debates that we have to be honest in, and it’s not about discriminating against anyone including young girls,” Dutton said.

“Young girls want to be able to compete on a fair basis and I think that is a perfectly reasonable position to hold.”

There is currently no federal legislation guaranteeing or denying trans people the right to compete in sports as their gender in Australia.

The South Australian Education Department states that all children and young people should be supported to take part in events that align with their gender identity.

“This includes all sport run by schools including inter-school competitions and School Sport SA … Compliance with law overrides any complaint the school might receive about including a gender diverse child or young person in any competitive sport.”

Although research has shown that trans women do not have a significant advantage over cis female athletes, the rights of transgender people to compete in categories that align with their gender identity has repeatedly come under attack.

Only last week, Britain’s Football Association announced that trans women were no longer allowed to compete in women’s football as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier in April that trans women are not legally women.