The Tumwater School District (TSD) Board of Directors adopted Resolution No. 09-24-25 at its Feb. 27 meeting, establishing support for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s (WIAA) proposed Amendments 7 and 8.
Amendment 7 would limit participation in girls sports to biological females, and Amendment 8 dictates athletic programs be offered separately for boys and girls and an open division for all interested students.
“The board directs the Tumwater School District administration and athletic directors to support and approve WIAA policy through Amendments 7 and 8, ensuring that all student-athletes regardless of sex, gender identity, or gender expression who meet eligibility criteria were allowed to participate in the ‘Boys/Open Category,’ and to maintain fair and equitable competition participation in the ‘Girls Category’ is limited to students as biological sex is female,” the board resolution stated.
The resolution passed through a 3-1 vote as Board Directors Casey Taylor, Darby Kaikkonen and Ty Kuehl voted in favor of the resolution, with the sole vote against from Board President Melissa Beard and an abstention from Director Jill Adams.
Beard said her reservations are because the amendments would limit participation in girls sports to students whose biological sex is female and that all protected classes should be protected against discrimination.
Gender identity, along with race, religion, disability and other categories is a protected class in Washington.
“When we began serving on this board, we all took an oath to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States and the state of Washington. To my knowledge, neither of those has changed. Voting for this would be against the oath I took to act in accordance with the law,” Beard added.
Adams explained the directors are currently facing the issue of either following federal and state laws, or adopting the administration’s executive orders.
“A lot of us may disagree with the executive order, but as school board members, we're caught between a rock and a hard place. We have an oath that we must follow the constitution. … It's great to have viewpoints, but we also have to follow the law,” Adams said.
A video shows commotion among the audience can after the vote, which caused a halt in discussions at the time.
TSD is currently facing a federal investigation from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Seattle Branch after allowing a transgender athlete from an opposing Shelton team to compete in a girls high school basketball game last month.
The investigation was launched following a complaint filed by the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) on behalf of a 15-year-old female TSD student-athlete who allegedly became the subject of sex discrimination after speaking up against males in female sports.
FAIR alleged the student sat out of the game “for fear of her safety” after TSD school officials failed to give advance notice and allowed a biological male to compete in the event.
The TSD school principal reportedly cited WIAA policy that lets athletes play on the team that conforms to their “gender identity,” which led the student to not participate.
“The complaint also alleges that TSD is now ‘investigating’ the 15-year-old female student for violating TSD’s policies against bullying and harassment by ‘misgendering’ the male player,” stated a Department of Education’s press release.
The district allegedly violated Title IX by allowing biologically male athletes to compete in girls’ sports activities.
Title IX protects students from sexual harassment in educational programs or activities utilizing federal resources.
“OCR’s directed investigations of educational institutions, state boards of education, interscholastic associations, and school districts demonstrates that the Trump Education Department will vigorously enforce Title IX to ensure men stop competing in women’s sports,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in the Department of Education’s press release.
Trainor added if Washington wants to continue receiving federal funds from the Department, the state has to follow federal law.
Community members voiced their concerns during the public comment section of the meeting.
Sara Wall, a parent of three TSD students, highlighted the derogatory online comments about transgender students and athletes related to the issue.
“There are already issues with harassment and bullying in the schools. If we listen to these voices, what are we encouraging?” Wall said.
“It seems that the Tumwater student who sat out of the game with Shelton, as well as the Shelton trans girl who played, are being used as political pawns to further an adult agenda.”
Wall urged the board members to navigate the issues by cultivating a culture of kindness, empathy and respect.
Tela Hogle, Board Leader of Pizza Klatch, a community nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ youths, said that segregation is not the solution to an equity problem.
Hogle said the director’s response to the issue feels like they're trying to eliminate trans girls from girls sports when the trans student in Shelton was just “enjoying five minutes of trans joy.”
Following the vote, Tumwater resident Jacob Petty initiated an online petition entitled “Recall Tumwater School District Board Members for Voting against Trans Rights” via the Change.org platform.
The petition calls for the recall of TSD board members Taylor, Kaikkonen, Adams, and Kuehl.
“By voting against trans rights, our Tumwater School District board members have shown a disregard for the safety and well-being of the trans students in our district. Their actions fly in the face of the values embraced by our city,” wrote Petty in his petition.
The petition has 786 verified signatures as of last weekend.
Editor's note: The headline and story have been updated to reflect the Tumwater School District's Board of Directors position on transgender sports participants.
12 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
TheVirtualOne
Boys are not girls and shouldn’t be competing in girls sports. Period. End of story.
Monday, March 10 Report this
Jellyfish
Trans girls and women exist regardless of you believe in them ma'am.
Monday, March 10 Report this
ConservativeHippie
"segregation is not the solution to an equity problem" ... whatsthatcomeagain
Some of the quotes are priceless.
Pretty simple, you can't subjugate the rights of one class of person for another. The argument essentially asks society to create a new special class of person, and earned female rights are cast aside.
Remember when Title IX was such a huge step for female scholastic athletics?
Oh well sports fans, get ready for track n field season ... it's going to be interesting.
Monday, March 10 Report this
BobB
Trans people exist and given how difficult it is to be trans I highly doubt anyone comes out on a whim. If a teenager refused to participate in a game because there were black or brown kids on the other team, we'd condemn that racism. I understand some people are weirded out by the thought of trans people existing. They may also not like the fact that people of different skin hues exist as well. There are two possible solutions. The transphobic kids can choose not to play sports or the school district can eliminate all their sports programs. The Tumwater School District has a significant budget shortfall and doing away with their sports programs can help make sure there are enough teachers to teach the academic subjects necessary to graduate. Doing away with sports programs will guarantee that no one has to play with or against anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable. Just like in real life. Seriously, this is why we cannot have good things.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
Virge13
When my son was in middle school he loved to play volleyball. There was a girls volleyball team that he wasn’t allowed to play on yet there was no boys volleyball team. The boys sports were football, wrestling and basketball and girls could and did play all those sports ON THE BOYS TEAMS. With nothing more than my opinion to back me up, I would suggest more girls played boys sports back then (20 years ago) than trans girls play girls sports now. But there was no over the top reaction from hysterical adults like we’re seeing these days.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
WhamboMPS
Competitive sports teams in school are oftentimes -- though not always -- split by gender. For instance, there may be a boys basketball team that is distinct from a girls basketball team. When considering whether a trans athlete should be allowed to play on the team that matches their gender identity, consider the rationale for why there are separate boys and girls teams to begin with. The answer, of course, is that a gender-unified team would, for many sports, place girl athletes at an inherent disadvantage and in some instances preclude their participation. It's not that girls (and women) are weak, it's that their bodies are different.
Even if a trans individual has surgery to modify their sexual organs, the other attributes of their body determined by gender such as height and inherent strength won't be altered. For instance, according to the Cleveland Clinic, the average height for (adult) men in the United States is 5'9"; for women it's 5'3½". It doesn't matter that someone born as a boy identifies as a girl: their body still has the physical characteristics of the gender they were born with. Allowing someone born as a boy to compete on a girls basketball team, for instance (when there is an equivalent boys team that they could play on), will disadvantage the other non-trans girls wishing to play (and their competitors). I would think that this statement would be uncontroversial (while knowing that I am being naive).
Trans individuals have a tough row to hoe, and I am not trying to suggest that we should institutionalize discrimination against them. But when advocating for these individuals, we need to remember that we should grant rights to one group carefully if it negatively impacts a different group. Allowing a born-female athlete to compete on a BOYS team would not, for most sports, negatively impact the other boys wishing to play. Conversely, allowing a born-male athlete to compete on GIRLS team WOULD negatively impact the other girls wishing to play. Barring that participation, therefore, isn't about hurting the trans girl athlete, it's about NOT hurting the non-trans girl athlete. And remember, barring the trans girl athlete doesn't bar them from the sport: they can still play on the boys team. And while some commenters might be aghast that someone who identifies as a girl would be "forced" to play on a boys team, is that really worse than having a girl athlete pushed out of participating in their sport at all because the slots on the team are taken by the physically larger trans girls? I don't see how it is.
My conclusion, therefore, is that for school sports teams split by gender, that participation should be based on the gender the student was born with, not the gender the student identifies with. And for sports where there is no split by gender, all students should be welcomed.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
BigOlBoloz
I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like coca cola
C-O-L-A, Cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
L-O-L-A, Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well, I'm not the world's most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman but talked like a man
Oh my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well, we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said "Dear boy, won't you come home with me?"
Well, I'm not the world's most passionate guy
But when I looked in her eyes, well I almost fell for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I fell to the floor
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me
Well, that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world, except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola
Well, I left home just a week before
And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said "Dear boy, I'm gonna make you a man"
Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
greenleaves2023
Terms like "biological female" and "biological male," ironically do not make biological sense and are also offensive to trans people and those who support them. It's the same as the girl who misgendered the Shelton player-- the bias of this reporter's writing is clear, because the writer misgenders trans people every time they used those terms, which was frequently. It's disrespectful and unnecessary, and I expected better from the JOLT.
There are many instances where an individual may fall outside of the binary, BIOLOGICALLY, like intersex people. And to say that it's unfair to allow an individual with genetics that make them more adept at a particular sport to compete against those who have a different set of genes is absurd. Should we tell all girls who are taller, stronger or faster than other girls they can't compete because that's unfair to those who don't have the athletically gifted genetic profile? No, we celebrate them for their skills and physical features alike. This is really just about bigotry, plain and simple.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
Dogmom
I agree 100% with WhamboMPS. Very well put and might I add, common sense prevails in this topic. There is no way that a boy that identifies as a girl should be playing on a girls' team period if it involves a sport such as swimming, volleyball, track, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis etc. If it involves just your academics and brain, then of course, no problem. People, it's just common sense. Why do you not care about girls' sports and Title 9. You were sure for it at the time. Nothing has changed.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
Southsoundguy
Ignore anyone claiming boys are girls.
Tuesday, March 11 Report this
MOTG26
This is not about fairness in sports, this is about a campaign to dehumanize a group of people to further a political agenda. They have chosen a small and vulnerable group of people to trigger the amygdala of ignorant people so they can pursue their authoritarian aims.
Many trans girls are on puberty blockers and then hormones, they do not have the possible “benefits” of testosterone. But, as has already been said, there is tremendous diversity among cis girls already. Some are taller, faster and stronger than others by chance of genetics. Many cis girls are faster and taller than cis boys.
Also sports are about community, belonging, cooperation and leadership. These should be available to all of our young people. They are the future leaders of our community. To be a part of a team and to use your body to compete is the joy of sport. Trans girls deserve that just as much as anyone else.
Wednesday, March 12 Report this
RedskinPatriot
If a trans woman isn’t different? Why call them trans? Just call’em women?
My point exactly! Stop with this nonsense - people that think they are something have mental issues. Period! It is a mental health crisis that is what it is and teachers and parents need to be ashamed of allowing their kids to “be themselves” or “feel” different.
Everyone is unique and everyone is special God made them that way, learn to accept who you are and stop with the none sense in schools!
Friday, March 14 Report this