Parents of transgender Pa. athlete speak out against state's rule change: 'Having her play sports with males would be cruel'

PHILADELPHIA — The parents of a transgender student athlete at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School spoke out Wednesday, telling the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association that participating on girls’ sports teams was critical for her well-being — and that of other transgender children.

Appearing before PIAA’s board of directors in Mechanicsburg — which last month changed its transgender athlete policy to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” — Sarah Hansen said her child, a senior who runs track and field in the Colonial School District, had grappled with her identity for years.

“Since 15, we’ve been on a journey for her to transition to the girl that she always has been,” including psychological evaluations, medical appointments and testing, and hours of therapy, said Hansen, who was accompanied by her husband, Tom.

“My child is a female in her heart and soul, and according to her medical labs. Having her play sports with males would be cruel,” Sarah Hansen said.

In a statement read by a lawyer with the Education Law Center, the student, Luce Allen, described being a member of the Plymouth Whitemarsh girls’ track team for the past three years “as one of the few openly trans athletes in high school sports.” Allen expressed feeling acceptance from teammates, and said the team “means everything to me.”

“If you remove the ability of trans people to compete with a team that corresponds with their gender, then you’ll strip them of their opportunity to develop as people,” Allen said in the statement, adding that “trans athletes, like any other high school athlete, are just kids who want to compete.”

Under a previous policy, PIAA had said that “where a student’s gender is questioned or uncertain, the decision of the Principal as to the student’s gender will be accepted by PIAA.” But the board last month replaced “gender” with “sex,” and changed “principal” to “school.”

PIAA’s assistant executive director, Lyndsay Barna, said at the time that PIAA believed Trump’s executive order — which said that “ignoring fundamental biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities” — was “binding to all PIAA member schools that accept federal funding.” Barna said that “the board is following the order.”

A PIAA spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday, citing pending litigation, and the board took no action on the issue at its meeting.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are pushing to ban transgender students from girls’ sports; the Senate Education Committee advanced a bill Wednesday prohibiting students “of the male sex” on those teams, on a 7-4 party-line vote.

Advocates for transgender students have challenged the PIAA’s rule change, calling it “unnecessary and unlawful.”

Kristina Moon, a senior attorney with the Education Law Center, reiterated that opposition at Wednesday’s PIAA meeting, describing restrictions on trans athletes as a form of sex discrimination, and referring to research that found “no negative impact on the participation of girls and women in school sports in states that had implemented trans-inclusive state athletics policies.”

“There are, and have always been, wide variations in physical characteristics among young people who play sports,” Moon said during the meeting — especially during “formative school-age years,” as kids develop at different rates.

She read a statement from an unnamed teammate of Allen’s, who said that “I have always been in close competition with Luce. Some reps, I’m faster. ... I have never felt like any of my meets or races have been unfair because of Luce’s participation.”

And in a letter submitted to the PIAA board, the head coach of the Plymouth Whitemarsh girls’ track and field team, Christopher Jackson Jr., said Allen had found a “refuge” and sense of belonging on the team, but was also valued by teammates as “a courageous leader.”

”Luce’s presence on the team fosters a spirit of unity, sportsmanship, and inclusivity,” Jackson said. “They are admired for their bravery, work ethic, and unwavering commitment to the sport they love.”

The Colonial School District and PIAA are the subject of a federal lawsuit brought by a Quakertown student and her mother, Holly Magalengo. The student says her constitutional rights were violated by being forced to compete against Allen, to whom she lost a race in September. (Allen and the Quakertown student are identified in the lawsuit only by their initials.)

During a hearing earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia — where a judge rejected the Quakertown student’s motion for a restraining order — lawyers for Colonial said the district had allowed transgender students to compete on teams matching their “authentic gender identity” since 2019, and that the policy was in line with federal and state law.

The district cited Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission rules that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, as well as a 2018 federal court ruling that upheld a Boyertown Area School District policy allowing transgender students to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identities.

Colonial’s lawyer, Michele Mintz, also said at that hearing that the September race didn’t affect the Quakertown student’s ability to compete in other races, and added there was no evidence the Quakertown student had lost any possible scholarships as a result of competing against Allen — who the district said had placed 139th in Fall District One championships.

A Colonial spokesperson, Jessica Lester, said the district’s policy permitting participation by transgender athletes “has not changed” despite the PIAA rule change.

Addressing the PIAA Wednesday, Tom Hansen read a statement from his child’s doctor, Jeffrey Eugene, who said “body characteristics of trans girls are differences, not absolute advantages,” and that “gender exists dimensionally, not on a binary.”

Sarah Hansen said Luce “does not win every race. She works hard seven days a week ... Over the last three years, she has become substantially better, but athletes with this mindset all do the same.”

She said her child was “not a male who wants to play against girls, not a predator who wants to find a way into the female locker room, and not a male who isn’t good enough to be a boy. She is a girl.”

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