The Alaska School Activities Association, the nonprofit that oversees high school sports, is set to move ahead with bylaw changes limiting the participation of trans girls in sports at its meeting next week.
ASAA Director Billy Strickland told The Alaska Current that the move is a direct result of the Alaska Board of Education’s adoption of regulations that seek to ban trans girls from participating in girls’ sports and that, based on legal analysis, he believes they have no choice but to adopt the changes.
“It’s a direct response to the changes in the DEED regulations,” he said. “Regardless of how you feel about the rule itself, ASAA is pretty much compelled to make this change. … I think it’s important people know that we believe we’re compelled to do this. Failure to do it would, by department regs, not let (school districts) join ASAA.”
The Board of Education, which is filled with appointees by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, has pushed ahead with regulations last month singling out trans female students after the issue failed to garner any meaningful traction in the Alask Legislature. Such bans on trans girls from participating in girls’ sports have been a popular bit of the right-wing culture war nationally, and have faced numerous legal challenges.
A legal memo from earlier this year acknowledges the Department of Education doesn’t have direct oversight over how ASAA operates. Still, the regulations passed earlier this year would essentially bar schools from participating in any association that doesn’t limit the participation of trans girls. Thus, effectively, it is determining how ASAA operates.
“If DEED does adopt regulations adding new conditions for participation in activities associations by public schools and ASAA does not meet the new regulatory requirements, then school districts would no longer be able to support and participate in ASAA,” the analysis explained. “Without the participation and support of public schools, ASAA would likely cease to be viable or relevant.”
According to the proposed bylaw changes, teams established specifically for female students will be forced to be limited to students assigned female at birth. Strickland said that would be determined by birth certificate. Before the Board of Education’s actions, the decision on how and where trans students would be allowed to participate was left up to schools.
There wouldn’t be any boys-specific teams under the proposed bylaws; rather, any non-specifically female team would have to be open to both boys and girls.
Essentially, the bylaws create a female-assigned-at-birth league and a league for everybody.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is set up a division to meet the regulation, but our other division will probably no longer be viewed as a boy’s division and will be viewed as an open,” he said. “We want a transgender female athlete to be able to participate as they identify, even if it’s not the team they want to play on.”
Both the actions by the Board of Education and the ASAA proposal were met with opposition from Anchorage Sen. Löki Tobin, who skewered the action in a newsletter earlier this week, writing that it would have “far-reaching negative consequences for high school sports in Alaska” and outlined the long-standing concerns that such bans discriminate against trans students.
“Trans girls are just like other high school students who are trying to find their way in an uncertain world. Many high school students find great comfort in athletics, and it is unfair to limit a student’s participation based on some outdated concept of gender,” Tobin said, adding, “Furthermore, the proposed bylaw change harms all girls. Any young girl who doesn’t look typical or fit a typical expectation of girlhood is at risk. Every person in Alaska has the right to privacy and the right to equal protection under the law, and I fear what will happen next if we permit the erosion of our constitutional right to privacy.”
She also raised the possibility that some school districts in areas with non-discrimination measures may be forced to leave ASAA, forgoing competition against other schools in the state.
“In Anchorage, we don’t permit discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Anchorage’s code specifically prohibits discrimination in educational institutions,” she said. “The Anchorage School District and other school districts in communities with non-discrimination ordinances will be openly violating their local ordinances if the proposed bylaw change is approved and they continue to participate in ASAA.”
Strickland said that’s a possibility but cautioned against districts peeling off from ASAA, noting that it would limit opportunities for everyone over an issue that will ultimately be decided in the courts.
“We’ve had some discussions with our legal counsel as it applies to the Anchorage rule. That’s debatable. It very likely will go to court. I think the whole thing will go to court if you look at what’s happened to similar situations in other states,” he said. “Let the courts decide whether this is applicable or not.”
The ASAA Board of Directors will meet on Oct. 9 and 10 in Anchorage. Find the full details here.
The bylaw changes
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
