Female Student Claims High School Punished Her Over Locker Room Controversy
(ConservativeSense.com) – Participating in team sports can provide substantial benefits, especially to girls. It helps lower drop-out rates, increase grade point averages (GPAs), raise test scores, and boost self-confidence. Even so, one young woman athlete in Vermont claims her concerns over a locker room controversy resulted in her punishment.
Blake Allen, 14, wrote an opinion piece for Fox News about an incident in which a transgender volleyball teammate used the girls’ locker room with the rest of the team. She said the experience made her very uncomfortable, and she and others asked the transgender student to leave. The student ignored their request.
OPINION: My high school punished me for saying a male shouldn’t be allowed to watch me undress https://t.co/0QyGtfiC8D
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 17, 2022
Allen described calling her mom about the upsetting experience and talking with friends in French class. Someone who overheard her calling the student “a dude” and saying, “he does not belong in the girls’ locker room,” reported her to school administrators. Despite Allen’s discomfort and concerns, she said school officials accused her of bullying and misgendering even though the student wasn’t in the class. They ordered her to participate in a “restorative justice circle” and submit a “reflective essay” while completing an out-of-school suspension.
Additionally, the school suspended Allen’s father, Travis Allen, from his coaching position after he made comments supporting his daughter on social media, directly engaging the transgender student’s mother.
In response to the school’s actions, the Allens filed suit against Orange Southwest School District officials and the school’s co-principals with legal aid from Alliance Defending Freedom. Allen reported that the school superintendent, Layne Millington, reversed disciplinary actions against her the same day they filed suit.
No one should ever be punished for using biologically-correct pronouns. Please pray that this father and daughter win their case. @ADFLegal https://t.co/ppWkg72kRW
— Family Heritage Alliance (@FH_Alliance) November 3, 2022
Allen told another media outlet the problem wasn’t the transgender student’s participation on the team but rather the student’s presence in the locker room. Vermont’s state laws allow transgender students to play on the teams and use the bathroom and locker room facilities for the gender with which they identify.
The Allens’ suit is pending a jury trial under presiding Judge Christina Reiss, but the court has not yet set a date for arguments.
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