After a tumultuous week in Bow, during which parents were issued no trespass orders for wearing pink wristbands with XX written on them, we now have girls in Hillsboro Deering refusing to play soccer. Today, several girls from the Hillsboro Deering Varsity Soccer team refused to play their game against Kearsarge.
The Kearsarge team includes a biological male who self-identifies as a girl. According to the New Hampshire Journal:
Several members of the Hillsboro-Deering High School Girls Soccer team are refusing to play against the Kearsarge team at 4 p.m. today due to safety concerns over Kearsarge’s star athlete, biological male Maelle Jacques.
“This isn’t about transgenderism. This is about biology for us and the increased physical risk when playing a full contact sport against the opposing sex” said Heather Thyng, mother of a Hillsboro-Deering player.
It makes sense that girls are growing more concerned about their safety when playing against a team with a biological male playing on it. It wasn’t that long ago that North Carolina volleyball player Payton McNabb was severely injured when a biological male on the opposing team spiked a volleyball into her face. You can watch that here. McNabb reported many medical issues that came from that injury, including partial paralysis.
Mothers, fathers, and female athletes are beginning to put their health above political correctness. A life-long injury to play the game is not worth it.
For some of these girls, competing for awards and scholarships and missing a game can put them in a really difficult position. Missing a game can come at a high price. This is the dilemma they face.
In New Hampshire, the legislature took action and passed HB1205, which forbids biological males from playing in a girl’s sport. But recently, a judge issued an injunction partially blocking the enforcement for two transgender students who attend school in Plymouth and Pembroke. Kearsarge also has a transgender student playing on their team but they he was not part of the injunction.
One might ask how is it that Kearsarge can ignore a law passed in the legislature and signed by the governor? That’s a good question for the administrators in Kearsarge, and the administrators in the schools that are allowing their team to play against the Kearsarge team.
What happens if a girl is injured while playing the Kearsarge team? I’m not sure, but I’d be asking a lawyer.
I give a lot of credit for the girls and their parents for putting their safety first. What happens next year if the girls face five biological males on their opposing team? Then what? What if the boys happen to be six feet tall and weigh 200 lbs, will we finally acknowledge that this is unfair to the girls?
This is a mess, and it looks like the girls are losing. Hopefully with the girls standing up and fighting back, the voice of reason will return, and they will be able to compete on a level playing field in the future. These courageous girls are helping to pave the way for girls who will be coming up behind them.
