Alaska Board of Education votes to ban trans girls from girls’ high school teams

The Alaska Board of Education has voted to ban transgender girls from participating in high school girls’ athletics.

On Thursday, the board, appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, voted 7–1 in a special session to adopt the proposal, according to the New Haven Register.

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“The person talking about this is the most recognized cheater in all of sports.”

“If a separate high school athletics team is established for female students, participation shall be limited to females who were assigned female at birth,” the proposal, which now goes to Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor (R) for approval, reads.

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According to Alaska Public Media, board chair James Fields said that intersex athletes and those who transitioned before puberty can go through an appeal process in order to receive a waiver allowing them to compete on teams that align with their gender identity.

The board initially put the proposal up for public comment in June. At a July meeting, board members heard over two and a half hours of public testimony and received 1,400 pages of written comments. According to the ACLU of Alaska, nearly three-quarters of the people who spoke at the July meeting testified against the proposal. But the New Haven Register reports that board member Lorri Van Diest, who voted in favor of the proposal on Thursday, claimed that public comments were evenly split between those for and against the ban, with a petition from a conservative group submitted after the deadline tipping the balance in favor of the proposal.

The board did not take public comments at Thursday night’s meeting, but board members who voted for the proposal raised said they supported it because of fairness and safety.

Felix Meyers, the board’s student representative and the only member to vote against the proposal, spoke out against the change. “This has not been an issue that’s occurred. It doesn’t seem like this is a problem that we need to fix currently,” Myers said. “The values that we should be creating as students and as coaches who mentor and help student-athletes should be the values of acceptance, of loyalty, of hard work.”

In a statement, Michael Garvey, Advocacy Director for the ACLU of Alaska, said that the ban is a “direct attack” on trans students. “The Board has totally disregarded the ways this policy violates the privacy of young Alaskans, and sanctions wholesale discrimination against transgender children,” Garvey said. “The Board failed to recognize that Alaska’s constitutional rights, including equal protection under the law, apply to every single one of us, no matter our gender identity.”

Following the vote, the Anchorage School District, the largest school district in the state, issued a statement blasting the decision.

“With all of the current challenges facing Alaska’s public schools, it’s quite perplexing that this topic is a top priority for the Alaska State Board of Education,” Anchorage School Board President Margo Bellamy and Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt wrote. “An urgent public school problem does not appear to exist. Regardless of today’s decision, ASD will continue to provide a safe and welcoming school environment for all students. We will continue to ensure an inclusive, nurturing, and respectful school experience for our diverse community.”

According to the Movement Advancement Project, 23 U.S. states have passed laws banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration proposed a change to Title IX guidance, the federal law banning sex discrimination in federally funded schools, which would make it illegal for schools to ban trans students from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity.