Group protests at CIF headquarters in Sacramento over trans youth participation in girls sports

By ANDREW HAUBNER

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    SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — A group protested at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) headquarters Wednesday morning over trans youth participation in girls’ sports.

Moms For Liberty says that they want to keep competitive equity for girls and for CIF to step in on their behalf. Trans community advocates say that bans or changes would punish only a small segment of the population.

Julie Lane and other activists are frustrated with life.

“Somebody needs to take a stand,” Lane said. “They’re not listening to us. They basically seemed to address our concerns.”

Activist groups went to a board of directors meeting with issues over trans athletes in girls’ sports.

“Girls have protective spaces for a reason and no one seems to listen or speak out about this,” Lane said.

The CIF told CBS13 that, in accordance with state law, students may play sports within the gender of their choosing.

But Alexis Sanchez of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center said the incidents are so small that any law change would be punitive.

“Trans people make up less than 1% of the population nationwide,” Sanchez said. “Trans youth make up less than 1% of the population.”

Lane has a proposal.

“I think it would be fair to have the male category be an open category,” Lane said. “So they can identify however they want to identify and let the girls compete.”

Sanchez countered by saying that, ultimately, those types of changes are still discriminatory in nature.

“When people approach and try to find these fixes that are trying to push transgender women out of the sphere of competitive sports, they’re mostly just trying to push them out of the public sphere wholesale,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez argues that, more than winning trophies, the idea of trans athletes in girls’ sports is about building community and allowing spaces to exist.

“That narrative is used to push people out wholesale as opposed to people who just want to find some friends and kick a ball around,” Sanchez said.

California currently doesn’t have any rules prohibiting transgender athletes from athletic competition.

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