"For confidentiality reasons," the sport, school, and the athlete in the Green Bay Area Public School District have yet to be identified. Regardless, Steve McConkey of 4Winds USA says the parents have good reason to be concerned.
"Automatically, it's a 30% increase in strength," he notes about the advantages male athletes have over female athletes. "They have a greater muscular [mass] and longer bones, plus they have a situation where the lung capacity and cardiovascular system is very well developed."
Parents Ryan Gusick, Heather Longlais, and others recently told Fox 11 that their daughters came home from summer practices and games with welts and bruises unlike any they had received before.
"They're just not used to the ball coming at them that hard," said Gusick. "A lot of these girls are quitting this team because of their concern for their safety."
Longlais said gender-confused students deserve a seat at the table, "it's just not necessarily the girls' table," particularly referencing biological males' place in girls' sports.
McConkey, whose organization has been speaking out against policies allowing males to compete against females, adds that "it's a definite advantage" to boys, and it is "a dangerous disadvantage to girls."
The parents were told at a meeting Thursday night that the student would be allowed to play as long as WIAA guidelines were met.
According to a statement to FOX 11, the district says it "cares about the well-being of every student."
"All decisions regarding a student's ability to participate in co-curricular athletics/activities are made in accordance with Title IX law, Board policy, and WIAA regulations," the statement continues.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association's (WIAA) policy on transgender athletes focuses on "equity," "physical safety," and "competitive equity," and it acknowledges that "biological males or androgen-supplemented biological females are typically stronger and faster than biological females," according to a document outlining its standards.
The policy also states that "a student's member school will be the point of contact for determining the student's eligibility to participate in WIAA sponsored interscholastic athletics." For biological males "transitioning" to female, they "must have one calendar year of medically documented testosterone suppression therapy to be eligible to participate on a female team."
AFN is seeking comment from the Green Bay Area Public School District.
