Transgender law allows CA male to make girls' softball team

[JAD]

California's transgender law allows male high schooler to make girls' softball team | Fox News

California's transgender law allows male high schooler to make girls' softball team

By Perry Chiaramonte
Published February 14, 2014
FoxNews.com

Pat Cordova-Goff was recently allowed to try out for the girls' softball team at Azusa High School due to a recently passed law in California. (Watchara Phomicinda/ San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

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 newspaper San 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.

 

[starsnuffer]

As the parents and politicians bicker, the softball players are simply saying, "Bring it, girlyboy!"

-W

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

So strange, just heard about this from someone close to this situation (not saying any more just because I'm trying to protect identities.) The team is very uncomfortable with this, having the kid in the locker room being the biggest reason. I don't blame them, especially if the kid isn't taking any meds that would initiate the process.

 

[klamath632]

No problem with transgenderism here. Live and let live.

Seems a bit unfair if she hasn't already been on hormones for awhile however. Testosterone provides a huge athletic advantage. It seems to me that she shouldn't be allowed to play unless her testosterone level is below the red line for PED testing.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

No, to having her in the locker room. I understand transgenderism and it is a process that you start at puberty (as far as I am concerned.) I played against a person that was 100% male looking, in over 55 Senior slow pitch. My teammates were not understanding. The person in question was able to hit the ball so hard, that a couple of senior ladies were getting hurt by it.

Growing up, I was my folk's youngest daughter, by 11 years. I knew dad wanted a boy, so I can remember saying "I want to be a boy." Anymore, they would have drug me off to a psychiatrist.

I knew a young lady in IL. that on her 16th BD, she announced "I am a male." It all started to make sense and there was no way her folks could have forced her to wear a dress. Her folks understood and told everyone to back off, this was their kid and her change to a he was no one else's business.

But, a 100% male in the locker room (why is the softball team in a locker room?) is a different story.

A grandpa had already cornered me on this subject this morning. he was very negative about the entire situation.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Excluding him based on strength would probably require an objective limit. That could backfire and exclude some girls.

The experts quoted in articles say they don't start the process for changing genders until they're an adult for health reasons. Consequently, they can only go by gender identify. The state HS athletic org, CIF, had to put together a panel to deal with determining whether athletes are truly transgender or just faking it. It didn't go to them because the school/district allowed him to participate.

The coach doesn't have to play Pat if he isn't good enough to make the varsity team. If they have a JV team, I'd rather have him on the varsity bench than playing on the JV team.

 

[CoogansBluff]

This debate largely centers on whether you accept that a person's gender should be based on identification rather than biology. California law believes that it can and should. We could discuss whether that's the way it ought to be, but these are issues in which people are not likely to change their minds about any time soon.

So I'll just offer this perspective: Once the law defines gender based on ''identification,'' the fact that it might be unfair athletically is moot. Lots of girls have innate physical abilities that make them better at sports than other girls. This is another one of those girls, according to California law.

 

[Out in Left Field]

As far as playing the game with the girls, I have no issue with it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves with locker room hysteria. The right to play a sport does not equal what bathroom or locker room you use. Google that topic and you will see where the laws are with that.

And the derogatory comments about the player are unwarranted and not acceptable in this day and age. I am not transgender and I find the comments insulting.

 

[CLM265]

Now what happens if this player is good enough and wants to continue playing in college?

 

[SCDad]

Regardless of the gender issues (what equipment they have), the advantage to the athlete is the amount of testosterone in their bodies, and for how long they have these elevated levels.

A female athlete cannot, or should not, inject themselves with male hormones to gain a competitive advantage. If they did, and I do not know the regulations, they should be considered against the rules.

Because a transgender athlete, by nature, is being supplied male hormones, and by doing so gaining a competitive advantage, that should be the focus of all of evaluation.

It does not matter much to me if you are a male who wants to be a female. By all means do that. But to play competitive sports against females, it should be required you take female hormones to compensate, and somehow remove or balance the male hormones which give you a competitive advantage. Another words, if you want to be a female, by all means, be a female in every sense possible. Including deliberate changes in hormone levels.

But don't expect to be a female in name only, and also expect to advance yourself with male hormones which give a competitive advantage on the playing field. The "locker room" issue is almost mute in this day and age (sadly). But the science of hormones is real, and should ultimately decide the status.