04 March 2024 , 14:12
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The coach of a Vermont high school girls basketball team, who were banned from state athletics after forfeiting a game against a team with a trans player, has spoken out about his decision, saying it was dangerous for a biological male to play against girls.
"I've got four daughters. I've coached them all at one point in their careers playing high school basketball," Chris Goodwin, coach of the girls' team at the Mid-Vermont Christian School, told "Fox & Friends."
"I've also filled in for the boys' coach when he can't make a practice, and I run those practices, and boys just play at a different speed, a different force ... than the girls play. It's a different game," he added, saying it would be "irresponsible" and "asking for an injury" to a smaller female athlete.
The private school refused to play Long Trail in a Division IV playoff game on February 21, 2023, because they believed that competing against a team with a biological male "jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players."
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(Fox News)The Vermont Principals' Association banned Mid-Vermont from all athletic events as a result of the team's refusal to face the trans player, and the school has since filed a lawsuit against state officials. The VPA said in a statement that the school "has every right to teach its beliefs to its students. It cannot, however, impose those beliefs on students from other public and private schools; deny students from other schools the opportunity to play; or hurt students from other schools because of who those students are."
However, Goodwin defended the decision to forfeit the game. He stated: "After discussions with the administration and our players and parents, we decided that instead of going against our religious beliefs that ... there are differences between male and female, we are created differently, we decided to forfeit that game and withdraw from the tournament."
"And at that point, the state of Vermont governing body kicked us out of all athletic competitions in the state," the coach added. The small school, in Quechee, claimed it was "irreparably harmed by being denied participation" and "losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competitions," as stated in its lawsuit, which was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
The ADF is a Christian legal advocacy group that works to defend and preserve freedom of speech to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights, according to its website.
Mid-Vermont argued that VPA was "denying the Christian school and its students from participating in the state's tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs." The lawsuit says, "The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont's tuition program and the State's athletic association."
The school has been removed from the association by the VPA. Eighteen states have made laws to stop trans students from playing high school sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project. But Vermont lets them play. Lawyer Ryan Tucker from Alliance Defending Freedom thinks the school will win.
"The state is basically attempting to purge individuals like Chris and other family members in the state, from public discourse, from the ability ... to speak out ... on issues of significant, public concern," he said on "Fox & Friends." He also said the state isn't thinking about "the biological reality" and how it could be risky for girls in sports. "We're very confident that we're going to prevail," Tucker said.