The CIF’s Gender Diverse Youth Sport Inclusivity Toolkit is a piece of work
Before June of 1972, few athletic opportunities existed for women and girls. And then Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 was enacted into law. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. Title IX was created to enforce equal access and quality.
This opened the door to female athletes because now women’s and men’s athletic programs were required to devote the same resources to locker rooms, medical treatment, training, coaching, practice times, travel and per diem allowances, equipment, practice facilities, tutoring and recruitment.
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In 1972, I was one of those young girls who benefitted. There was no recreational soccer for girls yet. There was no t-ball or softball teams for girls in 1972. Although I was already a competitive swimmer and competed through high school, I was able to participate in more athletics.
Girls athletic teams sprung up in nearly every sport in the ensuing years.
Here we are today in 2024, 52 years later, with decades of world renowned successful female athletes in women’s sports – golf, tennis, track, basketball, Lacrosse. But women’s sports are being invaded by mentally disturbed boys and men who claim they are trans women.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school sports in California, is promulgating boys/men in female athletics, while dismissing concerns from the female athletes.
Recently The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) sent a letter to California Interscholastic Federation, calling on them “to protect and support your female athletes and their right to fair competition in high school sports.” (letter is below)
ICONS continues: “Throughout its Constitution and Bylaws, the CIF takes great care to outline its commitment to providing equal programs, facilities and awards for boys and girls, yet its Gender Identity Participation Policy allows males to identify onto female teams. The contradiction could not be more clear. The CIF cannot provide opportunities to girls in sport while at the same time, enabling boys to compete against and displace girls.”
The CIF’s Gender Diverse Youth Sport Inclusivity Toolkit is a piece of work, claiming “this toolkit seeks to further these efforts towards the inclusion of transgender and nonbinary students in K-12 schools.”
The CIF claims that the Gender Diverse Toolkit is “information only, and not legal advice.” But they also say, “The CIF encourages participation for all students regardless of their gender identity or expression.”
So why not allow boys who identify as girls to wear a dress while competing in their own male athletic programs?
Because the CIF decided “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.”
In essence, the CIF has decided that girls athletics are no longer worthy of protections.
The Globe spoke with Sophia Lorey, who played four years of varsity sports in CIF, and was team captain for three. She spoke out recently at a CIF meeting about the agency allowing boys dressing/identifying as trans-women in girls sports. She said the Board “completely disregarded” the testimony she and other female athletes provided.
“They were playing on their laptops,” Lorey said. “Some looked distraught – stunned – like they had never heard this before.”
Lorey said people flew in just for this hearing, and the board refused to extend the 30-minute public comment period to accommodate everyone who wished to testify – for 2 minutes each. “This should not have been a shock to them,” Lorey said. (Listen to Sophia Lorey’s statement about the CIF allowing boys in girls’s sports)
In the CIF meeting, Lorey and others were limited to 2 minutes. So Lorey added the rest of her statement on X:
“I trust you understand basic biology, that you know it is wrong to allow boys on girls sports teams. Maybe you are just too scared to stand up to this policy. Hear me out, stand up to it, you were put in this position for such a time as this, do not let fear stop you from protecting every CIF female athlete. As we know the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Stop doing nothing. Fix your policy.”
So what changed? Why are boys and men now allowed to intrude in women’s sports?
It started with the Obama administration announcing that transgender students at public schools should be allowed to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender identity. And they brazenly cited Title IX. The guidance was rescinded by the Trump administration.
But never fear – In 2021, President Biden’s “U.S. Education Department expanded its interpretation of federal sex protections to include transgender and gay students, a move that reverses Trump-era policy and stands against proposals in many states to bar transgender girls from school sports,” PBS reported. “In a new policy directive, the department said discrimination based on a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity will be treated as a violation of Title IX…”
The Obama administration, then the Biden Administration, elevated trans persons above women and girls in once-federally protected women’s sports.
Or as the CIF explains, “It’s bigger than sports. The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences.”
Only, for girls in athletics, it is not bigger than sports. Those sports that the CIF dismisses for girls are what have propelled many girls into college on scholarships, into the Olympics, and some into professional sports.
Where are the teachers who not that long ago protected girls in locker rooms from boys. Everyone knew it was alarming and even threatening for boys to be in girls locker rooms. Today, girls are expected to dress and undress in front of boys who dress like girls and pretend they are women. This is perversion. It is unsafe for the girls. It is also unsafe to allow boys dressed like girls to compete against the girls in sports.
“The CIF and our school communities support our students’ journeys by developing impactful relationships through transformational educators and coaches who provide a healthy environment for growth and development.”
“A healthy environment?” For who? Allowing boys to compete in girls sports is unhealthy for everyone involved.
The CIF continues: “It is essential to have families and community supporters who display positive behavior which will allow our students to create their own experiences.”
These people are unhinged and should be kept far away from our children.
As ICONS asks, “What message are we sending little girls when society tells them they must step aside and prioritize the wants of men at the expense of their own achievements?”
