NY High School Volleyball Players Quit After Male Joins Team: 'Why Are We Pretending This Is Okay?'
Female athletes from New York to California have been fighting for their rights on new fronts this month as transgender activists push their agenda in young women's sports.
New York: Clarkstown High School North
Volleyball players from a New York high school and their parents are putting up a fight to "save women's sports" after a trans-identifying male was permitted to play on their team without their knowledge.
The students from Clarkstown High School North (CHSN) say they have had enough after Clarkstown Central School District allowed players who were born biologically male to play on girls' sports teams.
In a school board meeting on November 12, 2024, some players and parents testified that some of the girls quit because they didn't want to compete with a male.
"This individual joined the team and pretty much ruined our senior season. I, as a biological woman, had to sit down and watch a biological man take a spot on the court that I could've (taken)," said volleyball player Mary Kopf during the public comment. "People on our team quit because of this individual…I spent my senior season on the bench. I watched as a coach gave favoritism to a certain player on the team."
"Why are we pretending like this is okay? Why are we pretending that men don't have advantages (in) women's sports? Why are we allowing this to continue to happen? Why were the feelings of one individual put over the feelings of 13 biological women on a girls' sports team? Men are biologically stronger than women and should not be put in women's sports, no matter what they identify as," she continued.
According to Kopf, the transgender student played on the boys' tennis team and volleyball team and ran cross country before transitioning.
"Those girls back there...they're not ok with it. You can't take strength out of a boy. You can pump this child with as much estrogen as you want, you can't take strength out of a child," one parent told the board during an August 29 hearing.
"You can't take out the strength of a boy," she continued. "They're always going to have that. It doesn't matter if they have breasts. It doesn't matter. They're going to have the strength of a boy and you're asking these girls to be okay with it."
Immutable Biological Differences
Despite many sports leagues adopting a rule requiring male athletes to take testosterone suppressants for a certain period before they compete, women's rights defenders point out those trans competitors still have an advantage because "the strength, stamina, and physique between the sexes is significant."
Dr. Michael J. Joyner, a physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, told The New York Times last year that "testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla."
"You see the divergence immediately as the testosterone surges into the boys," he said. "There are dramatic differences in performances."
It's an advantage that transgender athlete and Army veteran Sara Higdon admits to having despite taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
"I'm trans, and a high performing former athlete, including 7.5 years in the army. Been on HRT for 5.5 years, and I can still prove that if I competed against women in sports, I still have an advantage," Higdon recently wrote on X.
I’m trans, and a high performing former athlete, including 7.5 years in the army. Been on HRT for 5.5 years, and I can still prove that if I competed against women in sports, I still have an advantage. I was on path to prove it by breaking the female squat record until an old…
— Sara Higdon (@SaraHigdon_) November 17, 2024
"I still perform in the 80th percentile on a spin bike after never riding before 2020," Higdon added in a later post, "For sure HRT causes a loss in performance, but it doesn't erase it. I'm proof."
Kopf, like many other female athletes, says she has concerns when playing with someone who was born male. "We ask the board to consider our feelings and our concerns since this directly affecting us and our team," she said.
CBN News has reached out to Clarkstown Central School District for comment.
California: Stone Ridge Christian High School
Calls for safety and fairness are echoing in female locker rooms across the nation.
Volleyball players at Stone Ridge Christian High School (SRC) forfeited a recent game and ended their season after refusing to play against a rival team's transgender player in state playoffs, Newsweek reports.
The team was scheduled to play against San Francisco Waldorf School but decided to not compete when they learned that one of the Waldorf players was a biological male.
"We do not believe sex is changeable and we do not intend to participate in events that send a different message," Stone Ridge Christian High School (SRC) said in a letter to parents. "Standing for Biblical truth means more than the outcome of a game."
A father of one of the players on Stone Ridge Christian girls' volleyball team shared this email that was sent to the team's families. Here is an excerpt:
— Beth Bourne (@bourne_beth2345) November 16, 2024
"We do not believe sex is changeable and we do not intend to participate in events that send a different message. We also… pic.twitter.com/z2gXH4FoQx
Vermont: Mid Vermont Christian School
SRC is not the only school to face a bitter end to its season due to identity politics.
As CBN News reported, the Mid Vermont Christian School girls' basketball team is continuing to face major consequences after athletes refused to play against a team that had a biological male athlete who identifies as transgender.
Last year, players declined to compete against a team that included a biologically male player.
As a result, the whole school was permanently banned from the Vermont Principals' Association (VPA), the body overseeing athletics in the state, because the school operates its athletic program consistent with its religious beliefs about sexuality and gender.
Now the school has filed a federal lawsuit against the VPA to reinstate the school into the league citing that it violated the students' First Amendment rights.
"No religious school or their students and parents should be denied equal access to publicly available benefits simply for holding to their religious beliefs," said Ryan Tucker, an attorney at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) representing the school. "We are urging the court to uphold constitutional protections by guaranteeing the school can fully participate while still adhering to its religious beliefs."
California: San Jose State
And as CBN News reported, several collegiate sports teams have forfeited games against San Jose State University because of player Blaire Fleming.
Fleming, born Brayden, previously played for Coastal Carolina University but transferred to San Jose State following the implementation of South Carolina's Women's Sports Bill that prohibited males from competing in women's sports.
San Jose State player Brooke Slusser has joined in a lawsuit against the NCAA in recent weeks arguing she had to share a locker room and even a bedroom on overnight trips with Fleming without having ever been told that Fleming was a biological male.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) has also filed a complaint against SJSU for their inclusion of Blaire on the team.
"We want to protect the integrity of women's sports but also the safety of these female athletes," said Macy Petty, a CWA legislative assistant and an NCAA volleyball athlete.
Meanwhile, a federal judge rejected a request Monday to block Blaire from playing Mountain West Conference women's championship, scheduled later this week, on grounds that she is transgender.
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