Grace Brethren Christian School, a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school in Maryland, has withdrawn from their athletic conference due to a transgender policy that allows biological males to compete against girls.
The school had planned to leave the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference in the spring, due to the long distances their athletes would have to travel to play other teams in the conference. However, the school expedited their exit plan after the conference began allowing males identifying as girls to compete against biological females without a two-thirds vote by the league.
George Hornickel, school director for Grace Brethren, told the Washington Post that the “transgender issue,” and the challenges that issue poses to the school’s values, are a the core of their decision to leave the conference.
“We are a Christian school and hold to the biblical teaching from Genesis 1:27 and other related passages which states, ‘So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them,’” Hornickel wrote in a email to the Post. “This is how it has been throughout the history of the world, and we believe there are only two sexes: male and female.”
Hornickel continued, saying that the practice of allowing biological males to compete against biological females, is a “form of cheating.” Hornickel feels it “gives them an advantage over girls teams who only play female athletes.”
PVAC President Taisto Saloma, doubled-down on the conference’s policy. Claiming that the league is committed to “honoring everyone’s identity.”
“It’s something we’ve, in this year in particular, spent a lot of time talking about: How can we make sure we are doing that in a space that is changing and evolving, as it is becoming more apparent to all of us as educators and people who work in schools?”
According to the Christian Post:
GBCS’ departure from the PVAC comes at a time in which concerns have been raised about how the push to embrace transgender-inclusive policies in school athletics could infringe on the opportunities granted to girls and women.
In his communication with The Washington Post, Hornickel said that allowing biological males to compete with females ‘undermines’ Title IX, which was meant to create more opportunities for women.
‘When guys identifying as transgendered girls begin making up the rosters of female teams, girls who otherwise could have started are now coming off the bench, and girls who were the reserves may not make the teams,’ Hornickel explained.
Elite female competitors have also begun sounding the alarm over transgender inclusion in female sports. Tennis great Martina Navratilova received tremendous backlash saying that allowing males to compete against women was, “insane and cheating.” In addition, British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, has called for banning transgender athletic competition.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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