IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED
The Montana High School Association (MHSA) will be meeting this Friday, January 16, and Monday, January 19, to consider proposed language that would allow the following language:
“The MHSA allows all students, regardless of gender identity or expression, the opportunity to participate in a safe, competitive environment free of discrimination. The MHSA Executive Board shall designate criteria under which transgender student-athletes may request to participate in an activity sanctioned for a specific gender that differs from the student’s sex assignment at birth.
“For the purpose of this policy, the following definitions apply:
- Transgender Individual: an individual whose gender identity does not match the sex assigned to him or her at birth.
- Gender Identity: an individual’s deeply-felt innate sense of one’s own gender.
- Gender Expression: an individual’s external characteristics and/or behaviors that are culturally defined as either masculine or feminine (dress, speech, mannerisms, social interactions etc.)
“A member school may apply for gender identity eligibility for any student who meets all other eligibility requirements. The official MHSA form must be used.”
One hundred and seventy-nine school districts will be voting on this proposed policy; a 2/3 vote is needed for approval.
This is serious for our children and the future of our state. There is already policy in place for a competitive discrimination free environment in our high schools. There has not been a complaint thus far, and if the MHSA begins making special conditions for one group, then it opens the door for many other things. Concerned Women for America of Montana is concerned about the unintended consequences becoming a safety issue, and we want to work to protect all Montana children and athletes.
Helpful article by the Billings Gazette: Montana High School Association to vote on policy for transgender athletes.
ACT: Please contact your local high school Superintendent and/or Athletic Director and request that they do not vote for this. Click here and go to page 15 of the directory (page 20 of the PDF) and scan down until you find your county and then local high school.
Pray: Dear Lord, We ask for clarity for our confused culture. We know Your word says, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” in Mark 10:6. So today, Lord, we pray that You would touch the hearts of the Superintendents and Athletic Directors who will be voting on this important issue. May they vote to keep the transgender issue out of the policy revisions and keep the policy as it currently reads. Amen.