[News] [NE, USA] 2 groups urge NSAA to continue basing students' eligibility for sports on birth gender
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Stephanie Stevens
Oct 10, 2015, 9:25:05 AM10/10/15
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Omaha World-Herald, NE, USA
2 groups urge NSAA to continue basing students' eligibility for sports on birth gender
Posted: Friday, October 9, 2015 1:00 am | Updated: 9:45 pm, Fri Oct 9, 2015.
By Joe Dejka / World-Herald staff writer
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Two groups are urging the Nebraska School Activities Association to maintain its policy of allowing students to participate on sports teams based on the gender on their birth certificate.
Representatives of the Nebraska Catholic Conference and the Nebraska Family Alliance both delivered statements to the NSAA board this week expressing concern about allowing participation based on a student’s gender identity.
The groups hope to influence the association’s governing body as it drafts a policy addressing the participation of transgender students in Nebraska high school sports.
Transgender people identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.
The association has no policy specifically dealing with transgender students who want to play sports. Like all students, they are allowed to participate based on the gender on their birth certificate, with the exception of sports that aren’t offered for both genders, such as football and wrestling. Those sports, offered for boys, allow girls to compete as well.
At least two transgender students have expressed interest in participating in winter sports this year, which prompted the association to explore a policy.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference is the public policy arm for the state’s three bishops: Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln and Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt of Grand Island.
Sheri Rickert, policy director and general counsel for the conference, cautioned the board that scientists are only beginning to explore the implications of undergoing gender transitions.
She said studies show that a majority of children who feel their gender identity is different from their birth gender spontaneously lose those feelings after puberty.
“A sports participation policy should not discourage or interfere with this natural process for most of these students,” she said.
Science also is lacking on the long-term physiological and psychological effects of undergoing gender transitions, she said.
The board should avoid adopting a policy that conflicts with the free exercise of religion by Catholic and other religiously affiliated schools, Rickert said.
Some policies in other states have required transgender sensitivity training for teachers, coaches, students and parents, she said.
A policy based on gender at birth would be consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church that “every person is created by God as male or female,” she said. “One’s identity is based on that objective reality, and is not subject to self-redefinition.”
Karen Bowling, outreach and operations director with the Nebraska Family Alliance, a religious social advocacy group, told the board that her office had received phone calls and emails on the issue.
“We encourage you to draft a policy that respects the needs of all students and not be tailored to a few students at the expense of every other student,” she said.
Courts in Pennsylvania and Virginia recently found that restroom policies based on students’ birth gender were legal, Bowling said.
In one case, she said, the court found that the University of Pittsburgh’s policy requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their birth gender did not violate federal law prohibiting sex discrimination.
The controversial and litigation-laden issue has prompted at least 38 states, including Iowa, to adopt policies to determine who can participate in which sports.
Some states, such as North Carolina and Georgia, allow students to participate only in sports that match up with the gender on their birth certificate.
Two states, Idaho and Georgia, require either hormone therapy for a period of time or an operation before a transgender student is allowed to participate in a sport for a gender other than the student’s birth gender.
Several states, including Iowa, allow transgender students to participate if they can show that they “consistently” identify as a gender different from the one they were born as.
Copyright ©2015 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved.
http://www.omaha.com/news/education/groups-urge-nsaa-to-keep-policy-on-students-eligibility-for/article_f7114e98-ade9-5504-85dd-176fbcca1a19.html2 groups urge NSAA to continue basing students' eligibility for sports on birth gender
Posted: Friday, October 9, 2015 1:00 am | Updated: 9:45 pm, Fri Oct 9, 2015.
By Joe Dejka / World-Herald staff writer
-----
Related Stories
NSAA to tackle guidelines after transgender students express interest in playing high school sports
-----
Two groups are urging the Nebraska School Activities Association to maintain its policy of allowing students to participate on sports teams based on the gender on their birth certificate.
Representatives of the Nebraska Catholic Conference and the Nebraska Family Alliance both delivered statements to the NSAA board this week expressing concern about allowing participation based on a student’s gender identity.
The groups hope to influence the association’s governing body as it drafts a policy addressing the participation of transgender students in Nebraska high school sports.
Transgender people identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.
The association has no policy specifically dealing with transgender students who want to play sports. Like all students, they are allowed to participate based on the gender on their birth certificate, with the exception of sports that aren’t offered for both genders, such as football and wrestling. Those sports, offered for boys, allow girls to compete as well.
At least two transgender students have expressed interest in participating in winter sports this year, which prompted the association to explore a policy.
The Nebraska Catholic Conference is the public policy arm for the state’s three bishops: Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln and Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt of Grand Island.
Sheri Rickert, policy director and general counsel for the conference, cautioned the board that scientists are only beginning to explore the implications of undergoing gender transitions.
She said studies show that a majority of children who feel their gender identity is different from their birth gender spontaneously lose those feelings after puberty.
“A sports participation policy should not discourage or interfere with this natural process for most of these students,” she said.
Science also is lacking on the long-term physiological and psychological effects of undergoing gender transitions, she said.
The board should avoid adopting a policy that conflicts with the free exercise of religion by Catholic and other religiously affiliated schools, Rickert said.
Some policies in other states have required transgender sensitivity training for teachers, coaches, students and parents, she said.
A policy based on gender at birth would be consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church that “every person is created by God as male or female,” she said. “One’s identity is based on that objective reality, and is not subject to self-redefinition.”
Karen Bowling, outreach and operations director with the Nebraska Family Alliance, a religious social advocacy group, told the board that her office had received phone calls and emails on the issue.
“We encourage you to draft a policy that respects the needs of all students and not be tailored to a few students at the expense of every other student,” she said.
Courts in Pennsylvania and Virginia recently found that restroom policies based on students’ birth gender were legal, Bowling said.
In one case, she said, the court found that the University of Pittsburgh’s policy requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their birth gender did not violate federal law prohibiting sex discrimination.
The controversial and litigation-laden issue has prompted at least 38 states, including Iowa, to adopt policies to determine who can participate in which sports.
Some states, such as North Carolina and Georgia, allow students to participate only in sports that match up with the gender on their birth certificate.
Two states, Idaho and Georgia, require either hormone therapy for a period of time or an operation before a transgender student is allowed to participate in a sport for a gender other than the student’s birth gender.
Several states, including Iowa, allow transgender students to participate if they can show that they “consistently” identify as a gender different from the one they were born as.
Copyright ©2015 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved.
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