Long Trail fans cheer after a basket by their team during the Vermont Division IV semifinal with Mid Vermont Christian at the Barre Auditorium in Barre last week. Some fans waved pride flags and wore transgender flags after the Mid Vermont Christian girls' basketball team forfeited a game last week and withdrew from the tournament rather than play a team with a transgender athlete. Photo by James M. Patterson/Valley News
Aprivate Christian school that forfeited a girls’ basketball game rather than play against a team with a transgender player has been banned from Vermont school sporting events.
The Vermont Principals’ Association, which oversees school athletics, said Monday afternoon that Mid Vermont Christian School in Quechee will no longer be eligible to participate in sports and other sponsored activities.
The decision was announced after a Monday morning meeting of the Vermont Principals’ Association executive committee, during which members decided "that policies have been violated at the school level and thus there is an immediate determination of ineligibility for Mid-Vermont Christian in VPA sanctioned activities and tournaments going forward.”
Specifically, Mid Vermont violated the organization’s anti-discrimination and gender identity policies, the organization told the school in a letter of ineligibility. Those policies allow athletes to play on the team that is “consistent with their gender identity” and prohibit discrimination “based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.”
https://vtdigger.org/2023/03/13/vermont-religious-school-that-refused-to-play-team-with-trans-player-banned-from-sporting-events/