A Christian School in Vermont has taken a stand for women’s rights, forfeiting a girls’ high school basketball game and exiting the tournament rather than force their female students to play against a team with a male student.
While Vermont law allows boys who claim to be girls to play on girls’ sports teams, the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) in White River Junction has decided that this would not be fair to their female students.
Rather than play against this so-called “transgender” student, the Christian school decided to pull its girls basketball team from the Division IV state tournament and forfeit the game against Long Trail on Tuesday, according to Valley News.
MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg explained the school’s decision in an email to the outlet.
“We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” Fogg wrote.
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general,” she added.
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Lauren Thomas, the assistant executive director for the Vermont Principals’ Association, has stated that she is aware of MVCS’ decision to withdraw from the tournament but did not comment on the issue.
“I have received calls (from schools) asking for best practices and how to go forward knowing they were going to play a team with a transgender female on it,” she said, according to Valley News. “We just supported our stance and our best practices through our inclusivity statement.”
MVCS previously stated that it would not comply with Vermont’s law about transgender students — sending a letter to the state Agency of Education about the matter last year.
“As a religious organization, the school has a statutory and constitutional right to make decisions based on its religious beliefs, including hiring and disciplining employees, associating with others, and in its admissions, conduct and operations policies and procedures,” Fogg wrote.
“By signing this form, the Mid Vermont Christian School does not waive any such rights,” she added.
Fogg went on to note that the state laws had conflicted with the Christian school’s beliefs, “including on marriage and sexuality,” noting that “the school has not included that language in its handbook or online, nor can it affirm that particular aspect of the Vermont Public Accommodations Act.”
Fitness expert Aaron Warner praised the school’s decision in a recent op-ed for the Vermont Daily Chronicle, stating that there is no question that Long Trail’s transgender player Rose Johnson is “a biological male in how he moves, runs, jumps, and produces force.”
Warner went on to note that Johnson has been given the nickname “Not in This House” due to his prowess in blocking shots.
“In one game he had seven blocked shots. That means seven shots, typically closer to the basket so much more likely to go in, were blocked by the guy who is taller than every other girl on the floor, can jump higher and likely is significantly stronger,” he wrote. “In what world is this even remotely fair to other Vermont Division IV girls?”
“Rather than participate and enable both delusion and danger they do what Christians do best,” Warner added. “They took a knee, said no thank you. Not in the house of the Lord.”
He also declared that the facts are on the side of the Christian school.
“As a professional coach and strength and fitness expert I happen to understand this situation better than most,” Warner explained. “The field of exercise science, as much as biology, is where the discussion about trans-athletes should begin and end.”
“The current ‘woke’ argument claims biology exists on a spectrum and that a person’s feelings about their identity trump their biological fingerprints,” he added. “To be clear, there is no spectrum. There are no multi-chromosomal [sic] pairings in humans or any other mammals for that reason, so the pseudo-scientific claims made by the pretend scientists are Lysenkoism in drag.”
