Utah School Investigates Student After Parents Claim She’s Trans

Transgender sports bans keeping trans girls from playing have been spreading like wildfire, not only in the United States but internationally in schools and professional leagues. States like Utah, Idaho, Missouri, and Texas have banned trans girls from participating in sports at public schools.

Now, we’re seeing these bans in action and the ramifications they could have on students. The Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) is now facing one of its first cases, and the investigation revolves around a student athlete who is a cisgender girl, showing how this pervasive, anti-trans rhetoric and rigid attitudes around gender can truly affect any of us.

As a result of an unknown sporting event, the parents of the girls that placed second and third filed a complaint claiming that the first-place winner is transgender. The parents of the losing athletes aren’t the only ones that have placed complaints about this particular athlete. Other complaints claim “That female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough.” David Spatafore of UHSAA is in charge of enforcing the sports ban. Fortunately for the student, the Utah regulations for the student don’t include an invasive genital examination, as is required in the state of Idaho. 

So far, the UHSAA has revealed that they have examined her school enrollment records dating all the way back to kindergarten.

“The school went back to kindergarten and she’d always been a female,” Spatafore says.

Spatafore has kept the identity of the student hidden including the sport, the school she attends, and the sports event in question. He also hasn’t let the student and her family know that the student is being investigated. Spatafore mentioned that there was “no reason to make it a personal situation with a family or that athlete,” on Deseret News.

Although the student might not even know she’s being investigated, this is awfully personal and invasive. Prior to the sports ban bill passing, the families and supporters of two transgender girls in Utah public schools opposed the bill, and now we’re seeing the start of its detrimental effects.

Photo courtesy of UHSAA on Facebook