On Wednesday the Virginia High School League voted unanimously to permit transgender students to play on teams that are compromised of students opposite their birth gender. However, the students would have to undergo gender reassignment before participating in high school sports. Details here.
Some groups do not think the VHSL has gone far enough in helping transgender students. The Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Straight Education Network has deemed this policy “overly restrictive”.
“This is overly restrictive,” said Eliza Byard, the executive director of the national Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which has studied similar policies across the country.
“It’s very important that transgender students have access to school activities,” she added. “But if the idea was to increase participation, this won’t do it.”
Also on Wednesday, the Virginia State Senate Health and Education Committee killed a bill, known as the Tim Tebow Bill, that would have permitted home school students to participate in those same high school sports. The VHSL has lead the charge against Home School students being allowed to participate in high school sports, despite the fact that the families of those students pay taxes that support public schools and save the taxpayer money by not sending their children to public schools. Apparently it’s ‘very important’ that transgender students have access to school sports, but not students who are home schooled.
In Loudoun County Home School parents save the taxpayer $12,000 every year for each child they educate at home and do not send to public school. (Think how much more crowded our already crowded schools would be if all the home school students, and private school students, suddenly enrolled in public school!) Is it too much to ask that these home school students be permitted to play sports? Their parents have paid for those sports, just as public school parents have paid with their taxes to support high school sports. Why has the VHSL fought so hard for transgender students to be permitted to play sports, but not students who are home schooled? The Motto of the VHSL is “Building Better Citizens”. It should be “Building Some Better Citizens, Those We Approve of”. Why doesn’t the VHSL support all students? Prejudice against conservative families and their children is the obvious answer. Simple, disgusting, prejudice.
