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These latest legal attacks for having the “wrong” beliefs, this time on a 15-year-old student-athlete, show that cancel culture isn’t dead in America — it’s just taken on a more virulent form.
A Tumwater High School basketball player in Washington State is being investigated for “misgendering” and “harassment” after refusing to compete against a team that included a biological male identifying as female.
According to FAIR’s February 17 complaint, 15-year-old Frances Staudt of Tumwater High School is currently being investigated under the school’s anti-bullying and harassment policies for pointing out that an opposing team included a male player.
“It seems that if one disagrees with the WIAA policy in question and believes it is a violation of a female’s sex-based rights to be forced to engage in athletic competition with a male, TSD will use its power and influence to silence such dissenting viewpoints,” the complaint states. “Needless to say, the TSD actions outlined herein raise significant concerns about federal law violations.”
On February 6, as teams began their warm-up session, Staudt noticed that a player on the opposing team was male. The high school senior was later identified by “(un)Divided” podcaster Brandi Kruse as Shelton High School senior “Andi” Rooks, when he and his father agreed to sit down for an interview.
Staudt raised her concerns with Tumwater High School principal Zach Suderman and athletic director Jordan Magrath, who confirmed that the player was a male. In response, Staudt requested that the boy either sit out or cancel the game.
The administrators rejected her request, citing a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) policy that allows athletes to compete on teams that align with their self-declared “gender identity.”
Suderman argued that removing the male player from the game would be discriminatory. In response, Staudt countered that forcing girls to compete against a biological male was also a form of discrimination.
Staudt declined to participate in the game and continued to express her concerns. As a result of her comments, the Tumwater School District is now investigating her for “misgendering” the male player.
Washington State has been on the forefront of encouraging males to compete in girls’ competitions. In May, for example, a transgender athlete competed and won a girls’ track championship. Veronica Garcia, formerly known as Devina Brown and Donovan Brown, secured victory in the girls’ 400m heat race with a time of 55.59 seconds, finishing well ahead of the second-place competitor, who clocked in at 58.83 seconds. In the finals, Garcia claimed first place again with a time of 55.75 seconds, finishing a full second ahead of the runner-up, who completed the race in 56.75 seconds.
Filing civil rights investigations against students, however, is new and comes in the wake of a number of high-profile forfeits and protests over males being allowed to compete individually or on teams in women’s competitions.
The case against Staudt continues in spite of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at protecting women’s sports by keeping male students who identify as female out of women’s athletics.
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” the order states.
Schools refusing to follow the order could face the loss of federal funding.
“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” the order continues. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
The situation that Frances Staudt finds herself in is, sadly, not an isolated case. It is part of a broader trend in which transgender allies smear and threaten anyone who challenges the idea that men should be allowed to compete against women in sports. Across the country, students, teachers, athletes, and even elected legislators have been labeled as bigoted transphobes and have been harassed, censored, and investigated for standing up for fairness and biological reality.
In recent years, numerous female athletes have lost championships, scholarships, and opportunities to mediocre male athletes who aren’t good enough to win in men’s competition. The most recent example is in Maine, where a male athlete who calls himself “Katie” helped his high school team capture the Maine State Class B championship in pole vaulting after leaping 11 feet, a full eight inches higher than the second-best competitor, a high school girl.
Just a year ago, “Katie” actually competed on the boys’ team, but he wasn’t good enough to make the podium; in fact, at the boys’ competition at the same pole vaulting meet this year, the winner jumped 14 feet, or three feet higher than “Katie.”
The results of those two competitions clearly shows that male athletes, even second-rate ones, can outjump women, but no one is allowed to point that out, a fact that Maine state legislator Laurel Libby recently discovered. She noted the difference in “Katie’s” pole vaulting record in boys’ and girls’ competitions in a post on X and has since been censured by the Maine House of Representatives in a 75-70 vote.
As a result, unless and until she takes down the post and apologizes, Libby “is in violation of the House rules and therefore unable to cast a vote or speak on the floor until she complies,” according to an article in The Maine Morning Star.
Apparently in Maine, even elected officials aren’t allowed to criticize state policy or question how Title IX, a 52-year-old law designed to protect women from sex-based discrimination, applies to males identifying as females.
The reality is that transgender ideology is so illogical and unsupportable that the only way to keep it going is to silence and punish those who refuse to accommodate its lies.
Common sense dictates, and scientific research consistently affirms, that male athletes maintain clear biological advantages, even after hormone therapy. These include higher bone density, greater lung capacity, and superior muscle mass — all factors that create an uneven playing field when competing against female athletes. Staudt’s decision reflects the growing frustration among female athletes who believe that their voices are being ignored in favor of political correctness.
The right to hold and express differing opinions, particularly on issues as fundamental as biology and fairness, is a cornerstone of American values. However, even questioning certain policies can now result in serious repercussions.
The investigation into Frances Staudt and the censure of Laurel Libbey are antithetical to the American tradition of debate and free expression, and they are a warning sign that cancel culture is still alive and well — it’s just taken on an even more virulent form.
Many K-12 schools now embrace the secular woke agenda and are hostile to Christian beliefs and parental rights. Fortunately, parents don’t have to settle for this. Liberty University Online Academy is a K-12 program designed to educate your children in the ways of the Lord while preparing them to stand firm in their faith when they graduate. Our flexible online curriculum ensures that your student is trained at your convenience and keeps YOU the ultimate educator of your children.
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