‘Unfathomable.’ Senate Education chair blasts proposal to limit trans kids’ participation in school sports
Attempts to ban or limit transgender athletes’ participation in school sports have failed in the Alaska Legislature, but that hasn’t stopped the Dunleavy administration from pushing the policy through other channels.
This Thursday, the Alaska Board of Education—filled with Dunleavy appointees—is expected to advance a proposed regulation barring transgender girls from playing single-sex sports that match their gender identity. Instead, transgender girls would be required to play in coed or boys-only teams.
The regulation would go out for a 30-day public comment period, after which the Board of Education could adopt the regulation without regard to public comment. The Board of Education has already pushed ahead without regard to public comment or legislative action when it adopted a non-binding resolution at its March meeting recommending banning transgender girls in girls’ sports without issuing public notice or taking public input.
While even state officials and athletics officials recognize that there haven’t been any notable issues with transgender athletes in Alaska sports, they argue they need to act before it becomes an issue.
“I can’t point to it in the state, but in other states, there have been incidents where high school females have been hurt. Why would we wait to protect students? Why would we not try to stop it from people getting hurt in advance?” said James Fields, chair of the state board of education, told the ADN. “Why wait for there to be a catastrophe?”
Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, criticized the proposal in a letter to the Board of Education on Friday, writing that “it is hard to reconcile this hostile and divisive approach with the mission of the State Board of Education to provide for ‘an excellent education for every student every day.’”
“It is unfathomable to me why state board members would weigh into a topic that is so publicly divisive without any authorizing legislation passed by the Alaska Legislature and signed into law by the governor to indicate a need for regulatory change,” she said, noting that they’re pointing to the state’s anti-discrimination laws to enact discrimination. “The proposed regulation that you are considering for public comment will put many of our state school districts into the cultural war crosshairs by asking schools to wade into open defiance of local municipal non-discrimination ordinances by directly engaging in discrimination against trans athletes.”
She argued that public testimony has already supported transgender athletes. That includes the testimony from the Board of Education’s student members, who told the Alaska Legislature earlier this year they opposed the governor’s “parental rights” legislation that largely mirrored Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill despite vocal support from the Dunleavy-appointed adults on the board.
“I am starting to wonder who you are trying to protect,” Tobin wrote. “Hundreds of young people have testified in legislative hearings that they want their trans classmates to play alongside them. Why are you so willing to ignore our state’s robust legislative process in this matter? Sports and other activities promote teamwork, sportsmanship and fun. Demonizing people because of their gender identity, or even your perception of their gender, makes them feel unwanted and not valued.”
Tobin’s letter also raises several other concerns with the regulation, like how school districts and the Alaska State Activities Association plan to determine a student’s gender while respecting that student’s constitutional right to privacy.
“Will the state be sanctioning nonprofit volunteers and school activity directors to check genitals?” Tobin asked. “I would note that there is a provision in Alaska law that allows official documents like a birth certificate to be amended. I am assuming your misguided intent Department of Education and Early Development, ASAA or some other entity to be able to ignore an amended birth certificate in favor of an original interpretation about who a person is based on their genitalia.”
The Board of Education is expected to take up the regulation on Thursday at its regular board meeting in Soldotna. Public comment begins at 8:45 a.m. and can be delivered via Zoom at this link or by calling 1-253-215-8782 (toll-free) and selecting *9 on your phone’s keypad (Meeting ID 993 9148 2721).
The full letter
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 Bluesky.
