The Merced high school that forfeited its girls volleyball game against a San Francisco high school for having a transgender player on the team could be punished.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school athletics, is reportedly considering sanctions for Stone Ridge Christian.
The backstory: Last Friday, Merced high school Stone Ridge Christian announced that it is forfeiting its upcoming girls volleyball game against San Francisco Waldorf in the state playoffs, meaning the team’s season is over.
- Stone Ridge Christian administrator Julie Fagundes said the team forfeited the game because the school does “not believe sex is changeable and we do not intend to participate in events that send a different message.”
- Fagundes also expressed concern for the student-athletes playing against a biological male.
The big picture: The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the CIF is considering sanctions for forfeiting the game.
- “Any team that withdraws from CIF playoffs is subject to sanctions at both the Section and State levels,” a CIF spokesperson told The Chronicle. “No decision has been made at this time regarding future sanctions.”
Zoom out: The CIF has guidelines for Gender Identity Participation on its website, which state that all students have the opportunity to participate “in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a students records.
- “The student and/or the student’s school may seek review of the student’s eligibility for participation in interscholastic athletics in a gender that does not match the gender assigned to him or her at birth, via the following procedure below should either the student or the school have questions or need guidance in making the determination,” the CIF’s guidelines read.
- The guidelines continue, “Once the student has been granted eligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics consistent with his/her gender identity, the eligibility is granted for the duration of the student’s participation and does not need to be renewed every sports season or school year. All discussion and documentation will be kept confidential, and the proceedings will be sealed unless the student and family make a specific request.”
