In Soldotna, public turns out to support girls’ sports at State Board of Education meeting

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By TIM BARTO

Saving girls’ sports dominated public discussion at Thursday’s meeting of the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development. The meeting in Soldotna included time for public testimony and, while the comment period was open to all topics before the board, the vast majority of speakers focused on this one issue, and every single one of the approximately two dozen in-person testimonies spoke out in favor of saving girls’ sports for girls. 

Prior to the meeting, approximately three dozen people, about 10 of whom were female high school athletes, gathered in front of the building to hold signs reading “Protect Girls Sports In Alaska.”

Honking car horns chirped approval from passing motorists, while parents, coaches, local church members, and other people who value girls’ sports, joined the athletes in waving signs and then headed inside to the meeting chamber to let their voices be heard. 

After gaveling in and taking a private executive session, the Board opened the microphone to the approximately two dozen people who signed up to speak. There were three or four folks who addressed concerns about other issues, but calls to support true females from incursions into girls’ sports by biological males who consider themselves to be females dominated the comments.

Even a few of the people who were there to comment on other topics, including former State House Representative Ron Gillham, chimed in with a comment or two in support of the Board’s pending resolution.

The resolution supports the passage of regulations to provide a girls’ division with participation based on a student athlete’s sex a birth. Thus, only biological girls would be allowed to play girls’ competitive sports. It’s pretty simple, but it’s also bewildering that such measures need to be considered; unfortunately, that is the present state of society. 

The radical left, in what seem to be an effort to do away with gender differences altogether, including such notions such as masculine and feminine, have convinced themselves that anyone can be any gender – or combination or absence of genders – that they feel at the moment. Biological science and the entirety of human civilization be damned. What matters is an agenda that melds sexuality into a fluid and, most importantly, a non-conforming conflagration that they hope will destroy any and all things upon which modern American society is based.

Following the in-person testimonies (all of which were in favor of protecting girls’ sports from biological male incursion), telephone testimonies were taken. During this part of the hearing, 10 or 12 callers had an opportunity to speak, and seven of them were in opposition to the resolution.

Those opposed included representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Education Association (NEA), a transgender church pastor (you read that correctly), a parent who is allowing her child to identify as transgender, a teacher and coach, and a graduate student. In lieu of a name, the transgender church pastor provided a quote from Gandalf (from Lord of the Rings). The teacher/coach denied that allowing transgender athletes would cause any issues in locker rooms or shared lodgings while traveling. The graduate student, after presenting his credentials in the manner in the self-aggrandizing manner in which graduate students like to introduce themselves, proceeded to inform the gathered masses that the desire to save girls’ sports for girls is based in white supremacy. 

From those of us who support saving girls’ sports for girls, a thank you to the group of opposition callers is in order. Your affiliations and statements underscored many of the reasons we are now coalescing to speak up. 

Those who spoke on behalf of keeping girls’ sports for girls included Sen. Shelley Hughes, who championed common sense legislation to save girls’ sports in 2022. Her bill came up short, but she is determined to make things right on this issue and make Alaska the 22nd state to ban biological males from stealing athletic opportunities from girls and young women. Rep. Justin Ruffridge, who co-chairs the House Education Committee and has expressed support for the Board’s resolution, attended but did not speak. 

There were heartfelt statements made by all the in-person attendees, and all of them with respect and decorum, but the most inspirational appearances came from those female student-athletes, particularly a group of eight wrestlers.

It was encouraging to see them there and hear them speak so honestly, eloquently, and bravely about their firsthand experiences competing against guys prior to the formation of all-girls wrestling leagues.

These young ladies love their sport and work hard to hone their skills so they can compete fairly against other true-female athletes. They deserve to be heard and they deserve to be honored by the Board passing this resolution.

The board has decided to put the issue out for a 30-day comment period in advance of its July 26 meeting.

Tim Barto is Vice President of Alaska Family Council, which helped spread the word about the Board meeting. He and President Jim Minnery were thrilled with the turnout of people who care about girls’ sports, especially those brave student-athletes.

18 COMMENTS

  1. The party of science fiction, radical leftists. It would be hilarious if someone brought a unicorn and said this is as much fact as boys being girls. ?

  2. Excellent job people of Soldotna!

    “tranny church pastor”

    Good Luck with that when you meet God. A God who does not make mistakes and has in His word made clear what will happen to false teachers.

  3. There is a very simplistic solution unto the fictional conundrum that is the non-female attribution of non-reality, and this solution is not only a given individual wise, family wise, neighborhood wise, City wise, State wise, Nation wise and World wise.

    Question: Whom or what is creating this fictional conundrum?

    Answer: Weak, mentally ill women with no self-esteem and no perceived power unto themselves as individuals, and so gather together as to garner power over others weaker than themselves, their children, to show that they can control others, if not themselves.

    Question: What is the ultimate solution unto this fictional conundrum?

    Answer: Strong, independent, and individualistic women to stand strong as not only unto who they are, but the lessons they teach their children to stand strong as to who they are as well, as individuals, not of some worthless hive.

    Answer: Strong, independent, individualistic women to stand strong for themselves as singular women representing themselves as truly what they are, a strong, independent female that was born as such, not some facsimile of their existence.

    Answer: Ignore and refuse to compete with men, no matter how they ‘identify’ themselves.

    Answer: The true strength of any female is within herself, and her sisterhood, within themselves. It is within them to banish the falseness of womanhood, and within their strength to ultimately do so.

  4. What is the address of the State Board of Education? It is imperative that we all comment that girls are girls and boys are boys. This is milestone moment in our History. Time to be Heard!
    MRA please big deal this issue to encourage your readers to participate in this comment period.

    • Joe you can go online and the email addresses are on under the members of the State Board of Education. However, good luck. I wrote to James Fields my e mail probably went into junk mail Never got a reply I wrote to Gov. Dunleavy twice no reply. My issue was School Choice. So crickets from them all. 14 States have school choice why not Alaska. OH, I forgot the teachers unions are in charge. The State of Alaska used to be at the top of the line in 4th grade reading and math. Now we are only above Mississippi at 49 . I recently saw where Mississippi is moving up. The Board will fold or deflect and transgenders will totally win against girls.

  5. Great job and kudos to all who came out to testify.
    Sadly the board punted and is giving the ACLU time to activate all the comment-writing bots, to fill up the commentary with their agenda driven, unscientific zealotry. In my opinion it is the height of disrespect and hubris for some guy to pretend to be the better woman and take advantage of his biology to achieve rewards he is not entitled to.

    • Two type of trans: #1 – the confused/those with mental issues and #2 – opportunists (athletes). Girls sports should not be sacrificed for either.

  6. Wow, are you sure that’s even legal anymore, these people obviously didn’t get the directives for the local City authorities , I thaught these parks and our streets are basicly reserved for all the morphidites and pedophiles , you may look at the local ordinance to see if normal people are still aloud in the park, that could be strictly reserved for the fruitcakes nowdays? just Saying!

  7. National Education Association (NEA), a transgender church pastor (you read that correctly), a parent who is allowing her child to identify as transgender, a teacher and coach, and a graduate student. In lieu of a name, the transgender church pastor provided a quote from Gandalf (from Lord of the Rings).

    Just from that quote alone, tells you how mentally ILL these people are. This “pastor” of what we call Greasy Gospel, lives in a fantasy world. Any grown adult claiming to be a Christian would never even speak these words. Nor would they mutilate themselves and call themselves a woman when they are a man and vice versa.
    Congrats to Soldotna!!! Keep up the good work and stop this garbage at the gate. We do not promote any gender bs. Girls need to have their own locker rooms and sports without some mental case man in lipstick barging in.
    Make them use single use bathrooms! My two cents they all need to be made so uncomfortable where they live they leave! Move back to Seattle or Portland we are done with you in Alaska!

  8. It would be interesting to know how many of the lefties going to these meetings are going to all of these types of meetings around the state? How many are outsiders posing as Alaskans?

  9. Well done Soldotna! Let us all keep informed, keep showing up and support what is right and true.

  10. Supporting these delusional and mentally ill perverted cross dressers is only adding to the trans violence. The trans become irrational and violent when the rest of America fails to adopt to their perversion. We need to recognize this perversion for what it is, a mental disorder…

  11. Update – the formal public comment period has not opened according to Janel at Department of Education and Early Development. She said it will be published in the state’s online public notice system at: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/

    And in the ADN public notices section. Once it’s posted there will be 30 days to comment.

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