California's transgender law allows male high schooler to make girls' softball team
A California high school student who believes he is a girl trapped in a boy's body just made the girls' softball team.
Pat Cordova-Goff, 17, a strapping senior at Azusa High School, in Azusa, an hour east of Los Angeles, can play with and against girls because of a September change in state law went into effect last month. The law requires that, “a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
Goff, who is a cheerleader at the school, played freshman baseball when he considered himself a boy. He found out Friday that he made the cut.
“It is categorically unfair to biological girls to have to compete with a sexually-confused young man with stronger upper body strength."
- Randy Thomasson, SaveCalifornia.com
“We feel really confident about her ability,” Azusa Unified Superintendent Linda Kaminski told local newspaperSan Gabriel Valley Tribune. “No. 1 as a district, we want to ensure access to everyone, but we’re also committed to placing students on the team on their merits ...Based on her skills, Pat did make the team.”
The law was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown amid a gender debate that also included disagreement over which bathrooms students could use. Supporters have said that the law will help cut down on bullying against transgender students.
Officials for Azusa High School said parents of students and others have been supportive of Cordova-Goff trying out for the team.
“Parents had questions and we answered them as best we could,” Azusa High School principal Ramiro Rubalcaba told FoxNews.com. “My experience is that the parents have been pleased.
“Some students and players may feel uncomfortable but that only because this is something new to them but I believe they are all going to be accepting,” he added. “And I think the team is going to bring home a championship. That’s my prediction.”
Some feel that having Cordova-Goff play with young female athletes puts out an unfair advantage and sets a bad precedent.
“It’s intolerable of this young man to not accept an equal standing of girls playing girls,” Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, told FoxNews.com. “It is categorically unfair to biological girls to have to compete with a sexually-confused young man with stronger upper body strength, who makes the game board decidedly 'unequal.'"
“This mixed-up, in-your-face cross-dressing agenda is pushing more parents out of California public schools, which now have ten sexual indoctrination laws leading children astray," he added.
The team roster was to be originally posted on Wednesday, but unnamed sources at the school told the Valley Tribune it was held up because Cordova-Goff was not going to make the team, and he only did so after meetings involving an attorney and school district officials. School officials denied this was the case.
10 comments:
how ironic that its name is Pat.
Why don't they just give up in the public schools, and have "bathrooms", "locker rooms", "dressing rooms", and "teams". No more differentiation based on sex at all, for any reason, ever.
When women go for yearly exams, so must men endure some sort of exam just as lengthy, invasive, and involving cold metal stirrups.
This whole thing is buffoonery.
The reason for dividing the sports has to do with natural size/strength differences between the sexes..not sexual characteristics.
Here's my belief: If you have a penis, you are male. If you don't, you are female. If you have a DNA test and it would state you are male, you have to go to the men's restroom, play on men's athletic teams, and so forth.
exactly 12:42, and if you are in a wheelchair that is your problem how you are going to get up stairs, i shouldn't have to build a ramp. the person with the disability should be the one disabled.
IMO this gives the team an unfair advantage against the other teams. It also is probably one of the reasons he was allowed on the girls' team.
I would not allow my girl to be on that team and use the same restroom as the "confused" boy.
Anonymous said...
exactly 12:42, and if you are in a wheelchair that is your problem how you are going to get up stairs, i shouldn't have to build a ramp. the person with the disability should be the one disabled.
February 15, 2014 at 1:12 PM
..................
Wow, Anonymous 1:12 PM,
No, you don't have to build the ramp for the disabled person. But I doubt you'd help the person up the ramp, either. I won't go so far as to say I hope you break a leg (not in the "good luck" sense), but if you do suffer some sort of infirmity one day, I wonder who will help you up YOUR ramp? You know, the one you built for yourself on your broken leg.
Why do so many of you think it's straightforward to determine gender?
My colleague was in a team of medical experts that was asked whether Person A should compete as a woman or a man.
Person A was genetically male (with one X and one Y chromosome). However, Person A was born with a form of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, and was resistant to androgens (the hormones responsible for male sexual development). As a result, Person A had a female body.
The medical experts were unanimous. Here is their conclusion:
Genetically healthy XX females produce and use testosterone, but to a lesser extent than XY males. However, due to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, androgens had no effect on Person A, making her "more a female than any genetically normal female". She was physically further from males than any normal female, and should compete as a woman.
Dispite the medical expert conclusion, sports authorities decided Person A was a man.
Here's a silly test. Take it, at least on the level of a thought.
1) You know what's between your legs.
3) Now, go have your DNA tested.
Statistically, the result should match more often than not. If they don't match, will you change your gender?
I have no issues with transgendered students participating as their identified gender, using the ladies room, Prom Court etc. as long as things are equal but with this issue, there cannot be equality.
I agree with Randy Thomasson on this one point (the other stuff he says about agendas and sexual indoctrination is irrelevant and quite frankly mean spirited.) It is a scientific fact that men are stronger than women.
I feel sympathy for Pat Cordova-Goff. I really do. I cannot imagine what it is like to be a male but have a female soul. Her life must be so hard already.
But the fact remains that the body she is trapped in can run faster, hit harder and throw farther than the other girls. It's an unfair advantage against the other girls trying out for the team and for the girls playing on the opposite teams.
It's a sad situation and even sadder with people being so hateful. Shame on all of you sniggering behind your moral superiority. Anon J
@Anon J 3:01 PM:
But the fact remains that the body she is trapped in can run faster, hit harder and throw farther than the other girls. It's an unfair advantage against the other girls trying out for the team and for the girls playing on the opposite teams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uh huh, and what about cis girls who can run faster, hit harder and throw farther than average, even much more than average? Does the body they were born with give them an unfair advantage as well? Should they be disallowed from joining the girls team? According to at least one source (below), a "gender expert" claimed that Pat's physique won't make a huge difference. She'll be going up against extremely athletic women, not against an average, so whatever average differences exist between male and female bodies don't matter when looking at the competition. For all your complaining about people being hateful and sniggering behind moral superiority, you should look in the mirror.
source: http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/20140213/transgender-student-to-play-on-azusa-high-school-softball-team
Post a Comment