Don't Allow Trans Students In School Sports, Barnegat Officials Say

BARNEGAT, NJ — Barnegat officials are again protesting Board of Education policies, this time relating to them allowing transgender female students to participate in girls' sports.

"As the serious injuries of girls continue to mount, some of our school board members continue to sit on their collective hands," Mayor Pat Pipi said at a recent Township Committee meeting.

This is not the first time township officials have taken a stand against the school board. Just this past September, the Township Committee voiced their opposition to new gender equity rules in school. Read more: Barnegat Officials Take Stand Against New School Gender Equity Rules

Pipi cited three cases of recent sports-related injuries he said were caused by transgender athletes.

"Men and women are equal, but they are not the same," Pipi said.

While none of the cases he cited occurred in Barnegat, Pipi said that it would happen here. "It's not a matter of 'if,' it's 'when,'" he said. "And which one of our girls is next?"

But it doesn't seem like it's an issue in Barnegat, school officials tell Patch.

According to Board of Education President Sean O'Brien, the district has had one transgender student in recent years, who did not play any sports.

Some Barnegat residents agreed with Pipi, saying that allowing transgender students to compete gives "license to attack girls."

"I can't see where it's constitutional," one resident said.

Data on transgender Americans is sparse, but rough estimates believe that about 1.4 percent of American youth identify as transgender, or about 300,000.

Most Americans oppose allowing transgender athletes to play on sports teams matching their gender identities, according to a recent Gallup poll.

However, Dr. Eric Vilain, a pediatrician and geneticist who studies sex differences in athletes, previously told NPR that there are no good faith reasons to limit the participation of transgender women in sports, especially at the high school level.

He said that while data does show that men perform better in sports over women, science is not clear if the reason for that is testosterone.

Vilain told NPR "higher levels of the male hormone testosterone are associated with better performance only in a very small number of athletic disciplines" and it does not account for the entire 10 percent advantage men have over women.

Pipi called on parents to attend school board meetings and protest the allowance of trans students to compete in sports.

"When will the members who voted to allow this insanity finally stand up and do what is right?" Pipi asked. "I think in years to come, we're going to look back on this and say, 'this is a bizarre time in our history.'"