The Alaska Board of Education supports maintaining transgender girls on girls’ sports teams

Begich Higher College athletic field in 2018. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

In an unannounced move, the Alaska Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Thursday afternoon urging the state Division of Education to limit the participation of transgender girls in girls’ college sports.

The resolution, which is non-binding, encourages the Alaska Division of Education and Early Childhood Improvement to adopt a policy that would prohibit transgender girls from competing alongside girls who are cisgender — which means their gender identity matches the gender they had been assigned at birth — in college sports. The resolution asks the education division to kind two sports departments: one particular exclusively for students whose gender was born at birth, and a different that would be open to all students of all genders.

The resolution was unexpectedly added to the agenda at the finish of a 3-day meeting of the Alaska Board of Education in Juneau, which ended Thursday.

Billy Strickland, director of the Alaska College Activities Association, stated the resolution closely mirrors a policy he discussed final month with members of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. Strickland stated he was approached by members of the governor’s administration to talk about banning transgender athletes from competing alongside cisgender athletes at all, with the notion of ​​creating 3 divisions: one particular for girls, one particular for boys and one particular division for students who could accommodate transgender athletes.

Spokesmen for the governor’s workplace did not promptly respond to inquiries about Dunleavy’s position on the matter and no matter if he intended to direct the education division to adopt the policy outlined in the board’s resolution.

Strickland stated there are not sufficient transgender athletes to fill the third division. In his nine years operating the organization that oversees higher college sports in Alaska, he stated he’s only heard of one particular transgender athlete. Alternatively, Strickland told the Dunleavy administration that it would be doable to make a class just for cisgender girls, and an “open” class that could accommodate all other students, which includes transgender students. Girls currently often play alongside boys in Alaska on some soccer and hockey teams when there are no equivalent girls’ teams.

Beneath current regulations, it is up to person college boards and districts to adopt and implement policies associated to the participation of transgender athletes in college sports. Most districts have no policy at all, and only the Mat-Su college board has adopted guidelines limiting transgender athletes’ participation on teams that align with their gender identity, Strickland stated.

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The policy, which Strickland discussed in early February with members of the governor’s administration — whom Strickland declined to name — would have essential transgender girls to play in the open division alongside boys, but as Strickland understood, transgender boys whose gender was assigned at birth could they decide on in between two divisions.

That regulation largely mirrored the one particular proposed in a non-binding resolution passed Thursday at four p.m., shortly prior to the committee adjourned.

Board members and the Division of Education declined several requests Friday for a copy of the resolution. Division spokeswoman Laurel Shoop stated she could not present a copy of the resolution for the reason that it has however to be signed by board President James Fields.

But according to a draft resolution obtained by the Every day News, the board urged the Alaska College Activities Association to adopt the two-division proposal to guard “the integrity of higher college girls sports.”

“The Alaska State Board of Education and Early Improvement supports the adoption of regulations proposed by the Alaska Division of Education and Early Improvement and reviewed by the citizens of Alaska to prioritize fair competitors and field security though permitting all students to participate in activities “, the resolution states.

The eight-member board adopted the selection unanimously. The board’s student adviser, Maggie Caughtron, was reserved.

“We’re producing a statement that women’s sports will be secure, competitive and fair, that is all,” Fields stated in a short interview right after Thursday’s vote.

The resolution was brought by board member Lori Van Dist, who did not promptly respond to a list of inquiries emailed Friday.

Sen. Loki Tobin, D-Anchorage, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, stated Friday that she was “caught off guard” by the resolution and only discovered about it right after it passed. Tobin stated she was concerned the board violated its requirement to permit the public to weigh in on resolutions prior to they are adopted.

Tobin stated she was “incredibly concerned” about the resolution possibly violating the ideal to privacy enshrined in the Alaska constitution.

“From what I could see, this resolution could violate these provisions,” Tobin stated. “When I assume about the handful of young individuals we are speaking about, I get incredibly worried and scared for their security.” Even optics make a circumstance that can place some people’s lives in danger.”

Tobin stated her reading of the resolution indicates the education division has currently proposed regulations. The spokesperson of the division did not answer the query no matter if the rulebook has currently been drafted.

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“I am concerned mostly for the reason that I am the chairman of the state education policy committee in the Senate,” Tobin stated. “I am concerned that the approach was merely not followed and that we had been not in a position to make our public comment on this matter.”

Tobin stated the Legislature can “override” proposed regulations proposed by the Division of Education or any other state division.

“We give our division authority to do that in regulation, but that does not imply they have carte blanche to pass a regulatory package that the state legislature does not think is inside the intent and directive of their energy,” Tobin stated.

The resolution by the Alaska Board of Education — produced up of people appointed or reappointed by Dunleavy — comes on the heels of a measure Dunleavy introduced that would influence the rights of transgender students in Alaska. Earlier this month, he proposed legislation that would call for gender-nonconforming students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their birth sex. That bill, which lawmakers have however to vote on, would also call for parental approval for students who want to adjust their name or pronouns they use in college.

Inquiries about the participation of transgender athletes in sports are often raised in state legislatures, which includes in Alaska, but Strickland stated he is not conscious of other states that have addressed the situation by generating just two athletic departments.

“We may well grow to be the pinnacle of how this is handled,” he stated.

A bill that would have restricted the participation of transgender youngsters in college sports failed to pass the Senate final year right after becoming introduced by Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer. Rep. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage, proposed equivalent legislation earlier this year that would have permitted transgender athletes to participate in a separate co-educational class, with other classes reserved for boys and girls according to their sex assigned at birth. That bill has however to be scheduled for debate.

Members of Alaska’s bipartisan Senate majority have vowed this year to keep away from divisive problems, which includes legislation associated to LGBTQ rights.

Samuels reported from Anchorage and Maguire reported from Juneau.

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