Colorado Springs district becomes first in state to approve transgender athlete ban

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs District 49 is the first school district in the state to ban transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity, bucking state policy and aligning with an executive order from President Donald Trump.

Board members adopted the policy, called Protecting Fairness and Safety in Sports, Thursday night on a 3-2 vote. 

Board of Education members said they were not aware of any transgender students currently attempting to play on teams that align with their gender identity. Board President Lori Thompson, Vice President Jamilynn D'Avola, and Director Deb Schmidt — who voted in favor — said the policy was a preemptive effort to protect girls’ sports and to push the Colorado High School Activities Association, which oversees K-12 athletics statewide, to change its guidelines on transgender participation.

“We need to think about physiological girl is uncomfortable competing against a trans girl, does she have any say? Are her civil rights protected as well?” said Thompson, the board president. 

“What I do know is when you get down to biology, there could always be outliers, but men are stronger than women,” she said.

The Colorado High School Activities Association allows transgender student-athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity after an evaluation process conducted by the student’s school. 

The association directs transgender students to notify their school in writing, after which the school conducts a confidential evaluation based on personal statements from the student and their parents, and medical records. 

The school then makes a case-by-case decision.

Thompson referenced the Bible’s directions to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and said she wants all students to feel welcomed and included, but the decision was necessary to make sure cisgender girls feel safe.

“There’s no way to make everyone happy, and that’s where we have to make tough decisions,” Thompson said.

Board Treasurer Mike Heil, who voted against the policy alongside Director Marie La Vere-Wright, said the policy has little tangible impact, because the district does not currently have transgender students attempting to play sports. The district covers 27 schools and about 20,000 students in the eastern part of Colorado Springs and Falcon, an unincorporated community exurb in eastern El Paso County.

Heil said he does not anticipate transgender students trying to play sports at all.

“I’ve talked to a couple parents of trans students, and they tell me their students are deliberately avoiding sports and locker rooms,” Heil said.

Heil also worried about the district opening itself up to legal battles. 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January directing his administration to withhold federal funds from schools that allow transgender girls to play on girl’s sports teams. Two transgender students in New Hampshire, as well as the Minnesota attorney general, have sued the Trump administration over its policy.

The Trump administration is suing Maine for refusing to comply with the order.

“Setting ourselves up to be the fourth target of litigation doesn’t make sense to me when it in fact does not change who our students play against,” La Vere-Wright said. 

She noted that the board has no authority over what happens when its teams compete against schools in other districts that allow transgender students to play on teams matching their gender identity.

Parents and students against the bill fear it will send a harmful message to transgender kids, who already face higher levels of bullying.

“What’s really disturbing to me is the implication that transgender people are inherently dangerous,” said Lindsey Lee, who has a nonbinary child in District 49. 

“It’s heartbreaking that these kids can’t just be left alone to live,” Lee said.

The policy also requires children to be separated in locker rooms, restrooms and hotel rooms on school trips based on their biology. Board members emphasized they would not be checking students’ genitals to enforce compliance and said they’re still ironing out the details of how the policy could be implemented.

“There is no way to enforce this policy without being incredibly creepy,” Lee said. 

Crystal Clark, who has two daughters in the district, said allowing transgender girls to use the girls’ locker room would make her daughters feel unsafe.

“The consequences that would take place if we allowed males to play on the same team as females would rob girls of their safety and privacy,” Clark said. 

“The physical bodies of men and women are inherently different as created by God,” she said during the hearing’s public comments.

Jerome Novus, who lives in the district but does not have children in its schools, said allowing transgender girls and women to compete against cisgender girls and women would rob the cisgender athletes of hard-earned awards.

“I firmly believe in the sanctity of women's sports and I think people have a political agenda and are trying to push it and women are suffering because of it,” Novus said. “Women’s sports are very important to me and keeping them fair is crucial.”