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Citizens oppose NSAA transgender policy
McCOOK, Nebraska -- About 30 concerned citizens and parents voiced their objections about an athletic transgender policy that is no longer in place, at the Nebraska State Athletic Association meeting in McCook Wednesday.
Although no agenda item was listed for that item, members of the public had the first 30 minutes of the meeting to express their concerns.
The policy, approved in December 2012 and later pulled, would have allowed transgender students to participate on teams of the the opposite gender, which led parents to wonder how that would play out in other areas, such as mixed locker rooms and showers.
"I'm not against bringing these issues forward ... but not mixing them together. There are ways to handle this without forcing it on parents and kids," said Lee Larington of McCook. Another citizen, Kathie Cappel, told the board that by passing a policy in December, "they were sliding down a slippery slope."
The policy, as stated in a June 2013 Lincoln Journal Star article, ("Policy allows transgender Nebaska athletes to play on opposite gender teams") required students who want to participate in a sport with members of the gender opposite from their biological gender to prove their gender identity through the testimony of experts such as hormonal experts and psychologists. It also laid out a method for transgender students to join teams made up of students from the opposite biological gender.
The NSAA is a voluntary, non-profit organization that administers the statewide high school activities program for high school students in Nebraska, according to its 2012-13 annual report. With 309 Nebraska schools in 2013-14 as members, involving about 129,000 student participants, school districts pay the NSAA a small ($50) fee for each organization that participates. Organizations run the gamut from sports and music, to debate, yearbook and journalism. McCook High School paid $1,270 this year for its participation, according to Darrin Nichols, MHS athletic director.
After members of the public voiced their concerns at the high school auditorium, NSAA District 5 Director Alan Garey, Medicine Valley Public School Superintendent in Curtis, Nebraska, said the NSAA has no transgender policy and there is proposal to form one. He admitted that a "model policy" was posted on the NSAA website but "it never passed" and was taken down. "This is not passing the buck," he continued, but should sexual identity issues of a student surface, it would be handled by that individual school and its legal council.
Garey explained that if NSAA were to issue a policy, it would have to go through the NSAA legislative process, which entails a proposal from a member school, then go through district voting in January and in Spring before it could be approved. No proposal has been offered, he said.
Several of those who spoke against the policy said they were made aware of the issue from Mike Bonkiewicz of Friends for Nebraska Family Values. Bonkiewicz said in a phone interview Wednesday that the group was formed shortly after learning that the NSAA had approved a transgender policy in December. "People were floored that it had happened and no one knew about it." Bonkiewicz said.
Since then, the group has followed the issue. Bonkiewicz said transgender policies are gaining ground in other states and causing confusion and anger on behalf of parents caught unaware. He added that the NSAA has been inconsistant about a transgender policy and because of that, "there's been a tremendous breach of confidence with the average citizen concerning the NSAA. Once that's broke, it's hard to get back." The groups' goal is to continue to educate people on the issue, he said and to reinforce the high moral standards of people in Nebraska.
"Nebraska shouid be the state that pulls the whole cycle around," he said.
NSAA Executive Director Rhonda Blanford Green, in an email sent to media Wednesday, said "the issue had confusing undertones in its early discussion but clarification on the direction of the NSAA has been in the public since July 2013."