By DAVID BOYLE
Now’s the time to protect girls’ sports for biological girls. The State Board of Education has issued a proposed regulation to prohibit transgender males-to-females from participating in girls’ sports activities.
You don’t have to be a parent, grandparent, uncle, or aunt to participate in the public comment period, which ends soon. You only have to be an Alaskan resident to save girls’ sports.
You can help by providing your comments to support girls in K12 sports. Your comment doesn’t have to be long or complex. You can merely say, “I support the proposed regulation as published.”
Or you can personalize it with your child’s experiences in sports. How has K-12 sports helped your child succeed in school? Has your child learned to act as a team? Has your child’s participation in sports helped improve her academics? And has your child learned how to better interact socially with fellow students?
There are some who oppose this regulation. These include the ACLU-AK, Planned Parenthood of Alaska, and some notable state legislators.
Sen. Loki Tobin is leading the charge to allow transgender “females” to participate in K12 girls’ sports. It seems as if she wants to kill girls’ sports.
Here is one of her tweets comparing those who support keeping girls’ sports for only biological girls. Note the comparison to the Ku Klux Klan (a radical group which was formed by the Democratic Party following the end of the Civil War):
When did girls’ sports become a race issue? It’s apparent when the Left dislikes something, they attack by using race or some “phobia” to demean the messenger. Sen.Tobin has also allied with Planned Parenthood of Alaska to push for transgender females participation in girls’ sports:
Planned Parenthood of Alaska has a preformatted letter that its supporters can send to the State Board of Education.
Planned Parenthood says that not allowing transgender females to participate in girls’ sports will “profoundly violate all students’ privacy by forcing educators and coaches to identify and separate transgender youth from their peers.”
Planned Parenthood does not mention the privacy of the biological females in locker rooms.
Sen. Tobin sent an admonishing letter to James Fields, Chair of the State Board of Education and Early Development. Tobin wrote:
“Instead, the proposed regulations will override the thoughtful and often extremely personal input of parents, guardians, teachers, and administrators in favor of inserting government bureaucracy into the process”.
The irony is that she believes teachers and administrators, who are government bureaucrats, should play an equally important role in the decision to allow transgender females to participate in biological girls’ sports.
In her letter, Sen. Tobin further asks, “Will the state be sanctioning nonprofit volunteers and school activity directors to check genitals?”
This refers to the proposed regulation which would require the ASAA (Alaska Schools Activities Association) to restrict participation in girls’ sports to only those who were female at birth.
She has taken that statement and amplified it to literally pulling down children’s pants. Sad.
Even if you do not have any girls participating in sports activities, it is important that your voice be heard. Otherwise, this may be the death knell for K12 girls’ sports.
You can email your comments to Janell Andrews at [email protected]
But hurry! You only have till 4:30, July 21st to provide comments. And keep it simple.
Here is a link to the proposed regulation change (https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=211543).
Alaska Board of Education resolution: Preserve opportunity, safety, fairness for all athletes
David Boyle is the Must Read Alaska education writer.
