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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Metro Nashville School System says it is not making any changes to the district’s transgender athlete policies yet, even though their current policy is not in compliance with a new state law that regulates on which teams those students can play.
In a meeting earlier this month, several members of the Metro Nashville Board of Education held a committee meeting to look at several necessary policy changes. They then recommended to the whole school board that they should defer changes to the transgender athlete policy.
The district’s current policy says that students of both genders will be provided with equal opportunities when it comes to athletics. It states that “no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person, or otherwise be discriminated against in any athletic program of the school.”
New legislation passed in the spring says that transgender students may only participate in sports according to their sex at birth. They are not allowed to participate on teams of the opposite sex, even if it correlates with their chosen gender identity.
The initial update proposed to the Metro Nashville policy would have added language stating that all students participating in athletic events between schools “must meet the eligibility requirements set forth by the state and the governing body of the sport.”
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Board member Gini Pupo-Walker recommended that the group postpone the change indefinitely after several other members stated that they had moral conflicts with the state law, citing discrimination as a factor in that.
“When I read this policy, I know that when we say ‘eligibility requirements,’ the reason for this discrimination against trans students and I know when we say ‘necessary documentation,’ we are talking about asking children to provide documentation around their biological (sex),” said board member Emily Masters. “And that is why I find it immoral, unethical, a violation of civil rights, and not at all in line with what I know about our district and how we choose to care for students.”
A timeline for reviewing the policy again was not set, but some members suggested deferring it until a judge had issued a ruling on a lawsuit brought against the new law on behalf of a student in Knox County.
Luc Esquivel is a freshman at Farragut High School in Knoxville. A suit was brought against The Knox County Board of Education, Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas, the Tennessee Board of Education, and Governor Bill Lee. Esquivel is a transgender student who wants to play on the boys’ golf team.
School board member David Sevier stated that he did not know of any current Metro Nashville student who would be affected by the policy update, but other board members – namely Christiane Buggs and Freda Player-Peters – were worried about making changes that would impact all students going forward.
“Being penalized for who you are, that’s also unfair to the rest of the teammates who are just kids doing what they love with talent and skill,” said Peters during the November meeting. “I don’t want to punish kids for another student being who they are, and I don’t want to punish that kid for being who they are.”
Ultimately, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association monitors eligibility requirements, but they must comply with the new legislation. If students are found to be ineligible, they could be disqualified and could potentially cause their entire team to suffer those consequences as well.
Board member Abigail Tylor said that board’s decision was a way of standing up in opposition to the state.
“If we are deferring this, we are not affirming the state. We are saying that we feel so strongly about the state law that we want to see how this state law plays out in court,” Tylor said.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
5 Responses
As a matter of fact most State Capitals are heavy left in their politics because one of the largest employers is the State. Who do you think they employ ??? Political Science Grads/Majors who have been completely immersed in Marxist Theology. The only way to make change is to push back and push back hard–The Mothers and Fathers will be needed to push this one up the transgender hill or perhaps down depending on what you call a hill.
I don’t know what is so hard about this, If you have a pecker you play on the boy’s team! If you have a vagina you play on the girls team!! See how easy that was/is !!! Now for some facts, If you are a boy plying on the girls team and you hurt my daughter/grand daughter you won’t have a pecker much longer!!!
I moved out of NJ to escape this nonsense, and it’s here in Tennessee. Shameful. My daughter plays basketball in high school and I already told her she won’t be playing for any team that forces her to share a locker room with a dude. Period, end of story. This transgender crap is hurting and will ultimately end up erasing our girls. I promise to keep fighting for our girls. The real girls.
Cut every dime of Tax money and see if the rules are changed????
So when schools start filling girls basketball and field hockey teams up entirely up with boys, what will become of girls wanting to play girls sports? What happens to your daughter when she has go up against a 200 plus pound boy.