The members of the Alaska Board of Education may think they have created a policy to make girls sports safer and more equitable. If so, they have unequivocally mistakenbigotry for protection. Policies restricting girls’
sports based on natal sex are not only outdated but cause real harm to all Alaska girls, boys, nonbinary children and parents alike.
As a psychologist and mother of two young girls, this is personal. The board’s actions make it impossible for my family to fully enjoy and support girls’ sports.
I’ve always viewed children’s sports as a rite of passage, life-affirming and a natural part of the growing process. School sports, which for me primarily included soccer, cross country and track, were activities where I made friends, gained confidence and developed a lifelong love of physical activity. This policy unnecessarily robs transgender girls of opportunities for healthy development.
Sports gave me a reason to get good grades, avoid drugs, a safe place to have fun and the chance to learn life skills.
Sports taught me how to cope with loss and disappointment, gave me healthy ways to manage stress, allowed me to build trust with caring adults, and provided ample situations to practice conflict resolution. I am a successful adult in no small part because of school sports. This misguided policy prevents girls from accessing a multitude of positive experiences that would contribute to their wellbeing simply because they do not fit the board’s flawed conceptualization of gender.
Fortunately, there is hope for the future generations of girls the state Board of Education’s policy will oppress, because the outdated gender mold board members are clinging to for security is cracking. Young people today are overwhelmingly conceptualizing gender less rigidly and more inclusively, as demonstrated by the vote of the board’s student representative, Felix Myers.
Keeping transgender girls from school sports perpetuates othering of an already extremely vulnerable group with high suicide rates. These actions unnecessarily prevent these girls from a multitude of positive experiences that would help them become productive members of our community. And I do mean unnecessarily, because girls sports were safe and more equitable prior to this restriction. Please hear me when I say this policy and each member of the board through their vote on this policy are part of the problem, not the solution. I wholeheartedly urge the Alaska State Board of Education members to recognize their misstep and devote the necessary resources to retract this devastating policy.
— Dr. Jaime Spatrisano
Anchorage
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