Arizona school district passes resolution opposing state’s transgender sports ban
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The Phoenix Union High School District in Arizona this week passed a resolution supporting transgender student athletes.
The resolution challenges a state law passed in March that bars transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams aligning with their gender identity.
The district’s governing board in its resolution said it opposes the law, which could have damaging and lasting effects on the mental health of LGBTQ+ students in Arizona.
An Arizona high school district on Thursday passed a resolution to support its transgender student athletes, challenging a state law passed in March that bans transgender youth from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
In a resolution passed Thursday evening pledging to support transgender youth in Arizona, the Phoenix Union High School District’s governing board wrote that it believes “every child deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and provided fair access to opportunities” regardless of their gender identity or gender expression.
The district added that it believes all students should be able to attend school in a “safe and inclusive environment” that is “free from discrimination.”
In March, Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law legislation requiring public and private schools in the state to designate sports teams based on student athletes’ “biological sex,” writing in a signing letter that the measure merely recognizes “that there are inherent biological distinctions that merit separate categories to ensure fairness for all.”
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“This legislation simply ensures that the young girls and young women who have dedicated themselves to their sport do not miss out on hard-earned opportunities including their titles, standings and scholarships due to unfair competition,” Ducey wrote.
In enacting that law, Arizona joined more than a dozen other states passing legislation to keep transgender students out of athletics. Since then, Kentucky and Georgia have also signed transgender athlete bans into law.
The Phoenix Union High School District in its resolution cited research from the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention group The Trevor Project, which in a report published earlier this week found LGBTQ+ young people who do not feel affirmed in their identity are more likely to attempt suicide and self-harm.
“The Governing Board opposes legislation that is an attack on the safety of trans children and youth including legislation requiring them to participate in athletic competitions based on their sex assigned at birth,” the resolution, signed by Governing Board President Lela Alston and Governing Board Clerk Stanford Prescott, reads.
Changing America has reached out to the Phoenix Union High School District for comment.
Earlier this week, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) voted unanimously to ban transgender student athletes in the state from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, doubling down on a state law that already prevent transgender youth from participating in athletics.
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