TUMWATER, Wash. — The Tumwater School District has voted to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams.
The move comes after two basketball players from the Tumwater High School Girls Basketball team sat out of a game in protest of a trans player on the Shelton team.
In a meeting on Feb. 27, the Tumwater School District landed on a split decision to amend its policy. Three people voted in favor of the change, one voted against it, and another abstained. No one who voted in favor spoke out about their reason, but the person who abstained pointed to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes as a complicating factor.
The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
On the national scale, some argue that trans athletes pose a safety risk for other players.
An online petition is calling on the board to reverse the ruling, saying it is discriminatory. At last check, it has over 600 signatures.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which oversees high school sports, is currently reviewing two proposals regarding transgender athlete participation.
One idea is to create a separate athletic program specifically for those athletes.
The second recommends participation in girls’ sports be limited to students who were assigned female at birth.
In April, the WIAA will vote on the proposals.
You can read the details of the amendments here.
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