Sports Court Rejects Lia Thomas Case, Delivers Massive Win For Women’s Sports
World Aquatics' transgender policy was established in June 2022. Since then, World Aquatics has created an open category for transgender athletes to compete in.World Aquatics' transgender policy was established in June 2022. Since then, World Aquatics has created an open category for transgender athletes to compete in.
Middle school female athletes reportedly refuse to compete against biological male at track meet, protest in shot put ring
A handful of middle school female athletes reportedly refused to compete against a biological male at a West Virginia track and field championship Thursday — and cellphone video showed them staging a protest in the shot put ring.
What are the details?
The event was the 2024 Harrison County Middle School Championships at Liberty High School, OutKick reported.
The outlet said seven schools took part: Bridgeport, Heritage Christian, Notre Dame, South Harrison, Lincoln, Mountaineer (Clarksburg), and Washington Irving.
Several female shot put participants from Lincoln were seen on cellphone video protesting the inclusion of a transgender athlete in the competition, OutKick said.
Specifically, the girls from Lincoln were seen one by one stepping into the shot put ring and then quickly stepping out of the ring without making attempts.
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While the video in Gaines' post appears to show six separate protests by Lincoln in the shot put ring, AthleticNet indicates that five Lincoln girls posted "ND" (no distance) in the finals. Gaines also writes that five girls refused to participate.
While OutKick doesn't name the transgender athlete upon whom the reported protest focused, Gaines did so in her post, calling attention to Becky Pepper-Jackson, who has been in the news quite a bit lately.
Blaze News reported that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled in a 2–1 decision that a West Virginia law requiring every student athlete to participate in accordance with their biological sex violates the Title IX rights of Pepper-Jackson.
Pepper-Jackson — a biological male — has been living as a female and taking puberty blockers for years.
How did Pepper-Jackson fare at the meet?
According to AthleticNet, Pepper-Jackson of Bridgeport won the shot put final with a toss of 32 feet, 9 inches, easily besting the second-place finisher by more than three feet.
AtheticNet added that Pepper-Jackson placed second in the discus finals, while Ava McGill of Lincoln won it. McGill was not among the Lincoln girls who posted "ND" results in the shot put finals, according to stats. What's more, AthleticNet indicates that only one of the Lincoln girls who posted a "ND" result in the shot put finals repeated that for the discus finals — and one of the Lincoln girls who took part in the shot put protest posted a result in the discus finals, placing seventh.
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Riley Gaines suggests Democratic Rep. Summer Lee is a 'misogynist'
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Riley Gaines spoke out against allowing biological males to compete in women's sports, concluding her opening statement by calling out Democratic Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania. Gaines said that if her testimony makes her "transphobic," then she thinks Lee's opening remarks make her a "misogynist."
Shortly after the next witness began delivering remarks, Lee interrupted, and in what was apparently a reference to Gaines' comments, moved to get "the gentlewoman's words taken down." But shortly thereafter, Lee moved to withdraw the point of order.
Lee had said during her opening statement that she expected to hear "transphobic bigotry" during the hearing.
Gaines said that a school that knowingly permits a male to take a space on a women's team or to play in a women's game is denying an opportunity to a female and running afoul of Title IX. "Inclusion cannot be prioritized over safety and fairness," she said.
Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Hearing www.youtube.com
Gaines is urging women to refuse to compete in events against biological males and offering to financially compensate those who miss out on money for taking such a stand.
"Any woman who doesn't compete and loses out on prize money, I will happily pay the fee out of my own pocket. In any sport. Stop. Playing. Their. Game," she wrote when sharing an OutKick tweet about two transgender cyclists taking the top two finishes in women's races.
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Family punished for opposing transgender student in girls' locker room scores settlement with school district
A family reached a $125,000 settlement with a Vermont school district that punished them for speaking out against a biological male student using the girls' locker room, the Daily Signal reported Friday.
"This settlement was a huge victory for freedom of speech, not just for Blake and me, but for anyone who wants to voice their opinion on important topics," Travis Allen told the White River Valley Herald.
Blake Allen, then 14, was suspended from school and her father Travis Allen lost his coaching position after both spoke out against a biological male using the girls' locker room at Randolph Union High School.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Allens' records will be cleared of references to the disciplinary action; Travis Allen will be reinstated as a middle school soccer roach, and the district will pay the family and their attorneys $125,000.
"The settlement of Blake and Travis Allen’s case is a resounding victory for freedom of speech," Phil Sechler, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, told the Daily Signal.
"We are grateful that the school recognized it was wrong to suspend Blake from school and Travis from his coaching position simply for exercising their freedom of speech. No one should lose their job or get suspended from school for voicing their opinion or calling a male a male and we are glad to see this case resolved favorably, not only for Blake and Travis, but for all students and coaches to be able to speak freely and without fear of retaliation," Sechler also said, as the Herald reported.
The lawsuit stemmed from 2022 incident in the girls locker room at the school. According to Blake and some of her peers, a biological male who identifies as transgender entered their locker room while the girls were in various states of undress.
"A male was in our locker room when volleyball girls were trying to get changed," Blake told the Daily Signal back in October.
"And after I asked him to leave, he didn’t, and later looked over at girls with their shirts off. And it made many people uncomfortable and feel violated. And I left as soon as I could in a panic," Blake also said, adding that she did not blame the trans student. Instead, she called out the school board's failure in allowing the situation to happen at all.
Blake was suspended after she allegedly referred to the trans student as "literally a dude" in a conversation with a peer during French class, and also said "he does not belong in the girls' locker room." According to the lawsuit, the trans student was not present in the class when she used the phrase.
In addition to Blake's two-day, out-of-school suspension, the school also required her to submit to taking part in a "restorative circle" with the school's "Equity Coordinator" to avoid additional punishment.
Travis was reportedly suspended without pay from his job as the middle school girls' soccer coach after "misgendering" the trans student in a Facebook post by referring to the 14-year-old biological male as a male.
According to the lawsuit, Travis Allen responded on Facebook to a woman who said she was the mother of the transgender student.
"The truth is your son watched my daughter and multiple other girls change in the locker room. While he got a free show, they got violated," Travis Allen said in the post, according to the lawsuit.
The transgender student, a week after the locker room incident, reportedly said "I'm going to f****** kill Blake Allen," the lawsuit also alleged.
"The Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust made the decision concerning the payment in order to cap defense expenses in what would otherwise be years of litigation," Orange Southwest Supervisory District Superintendent Layne Millington said, as the Herald reported.
Millington was also named in the lawsuit in his official and personal capacities.
"The district has made no admission of wrongdoing. Our policies are unchanged and we will continue to comply with our policies and the law."
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Wake Up the Woke | 5/11/21