<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1666283552004,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-b7e3-d26e-affc-fff3c2490000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1666283552004,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-b7e3-d26e-affc-fff3c2490000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_66283546", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1121129"} }); ","_id":"00000183-f63d-da74-a1bf-febd35d90000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA North Carolina school board voted last month to forfeit all women’s volleyball matches against a rival school because of the presence of a transgender athlete.
The Cherokee County school board in western North Carolina voted 5-1 on Sept. 21 to forfeit all matches for the women’s volleyball teams at district high schools against Highlands School, which is located in the neighboring Macon County School District. The vote came after a student athlete at Hiwassee Dam High School was injured after a transgender player on the Highlands volleyball team reportedly spiked the ball into her head.
“The County will not participate in any volleyball games, varsity or junior varsity, against Highlands due to safety concerns,” the minutes from the board’s meeting read.
The board’s decision had the support of Hiwassee Dam High School’s athletic director, who, according to the meeting minutes, told the board that “a statement needed to be made and that it [was] unfair and unsafe” for teams to continue to compete against Highlands.
The meeting minutes indicate there was a substantial disagreement among speakers, but ultimately only one board member, Keesha Curtis, voted against the move. Curtis reportedly said she voted against the measure because she thought all of the district’s school principals and athletic directors should have made the decision whether or not to compete against Highlands.
Board member Joe Wood, who voted in favor of the motion, said that he arrived at his decision “based on safety,” not on the athlete’s sex.
The Washington Examiner contacted the school district for comment but did not receive a response.
Transgender athletes competing in women’s sports has become a hot-button culture war issue over the past year after Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, won an NCAA championship in women’s swimming earlier this year. Several states have passed laws requiring collegiate athletes to compete in sports based on their biological sex. Efforts to pass similar legislation in North Carolina, however, have thus far failed.
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In June, the Biden administration proposed an updated rule for the enforcement of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings. The proposed regulation would expand the definition of sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation, raising concerns that schools would be required to allow transgender athletes to compete as women. The administration, though, announced it would be conducting a separate rulemaking process for athletics in the coming months.
