In SLO County, ‘biological males’ are not hijacking girls sports | Opinion

Under the banner of Save Girls Sports, a group of San Luis Obispo County residents is battling to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls teams and using girls locker rooms and restrooms.

At recent school board meetings in Arroyo Grande and Paso Robles, they’ve pleaded with school officials to “protect girls” by “keeping boys out of girls sports.”

Unfortunately, the controversy has turned personal.

A track athlete at Arroyo Grande High School accused a transgender teammate of “watching girls undress” and singled her out as an example of why “biological males” should not be allowed to use “girls’ spaces.”

The story, told at a public school board meeting, was amplified over the following days. Fox News — never one to pass up a chance for outrage — was among the outlets that picked it up.

The transgender girl was not identified by name, but her identity was apparent to the school community.

“This has been a really, really tough couple of weeks,” the girl’s father later said on Dave Congalton’s KVEC talk radio show. “My child is the one that is being accused of watching other girls change, and it’s completely false.”

If this attempt at public shaming doesn’t make you cringe, it should. Children should not be used as pawns in a culture war waged by adults who don’t care whose rights — or feelings — they trample.

Private changing areas at A.G. High

Under California law, students are allowed to compete on teams and use locker rooms and restrooms that align with their gender identity.

That’s in direct conflict with President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans trans athletes from girls sports and prohibits using federal funds to support “gender ideology.”

The president’s order has given renewed life to the battle to impose limits on trans students.

At Arroyo Grande High, much of the focus has been on locker rooms — the implication being that it’s inherently dangerous to allow transgender girls to share a private space with “biological females.” 

If that were the real issue, it could be be easily addressed through design. 

Many, if not most, schools already provide private changing areas. At Arroyo Grande High, for example, the girls locker room has three bathroom stalls, two curtained areas and a private space within the coach’s office where students can change, district spokesperson Amy Jacobs said via email.

There’s also a staff person assigned to monitor locker rooms, including prior to track events.

If schools aren’t already providing monitors and private changing spaces, students and parents concerned about privacy should demand that they do. That would be much more constructive than haranguing school board members to defy state law.

‘Boys should be with boys’

Except, this issue cuts much deeper.

Private changing areas and monitors do not satisfy activists like Shannon Kessler, the leader of the Save Girls Sports movement on the Central Coast.

Being offered a curtain to change behind “isn’t adequate,” Kessler said on talk radio. “The point is that there’s a boy in the girls locker room. Boys should be with boys. Girls should be with girls.”

That cuts to the heart of the conflict: Many of those agitating to keep trans athletes off girls teams are denying that transgender individuals even exist. 

At a recent school board meeting in Paso Robles, for example, former school district trustee Frank Triggs argued that being transgender is “impossible” due to chromosomes — ignoring the biological reality that not everyone is born with either XX (female) or XY (male) chromosomes. 

That’s very much in line with Trump’s executive order, which states it is U.S. policy to “recognize two sexes, male and female” — a finding that is being used to discriminate against transgender individuals in a variety of areas, including the military.

And it’s being done in a manner that impugns the character of the entire transgender community, as evidenced by the extreme language in the president’s executive order:

“Adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement the others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”

It’s not a stretch to assume that Donald Trump applies that same standard to transgender athletes.

Men are not trying to ‘eliminate’ female sports

Are “biological males” actually signing up for girls teams in droves so they’ll have a better shot at athletic stardom?

Not hardly.

The president of the NCAA told a congressional committee he believes there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 510,000 competing at various colleges and universities. 

Just 3.3% of high school students in the nation identified as transgender in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It would be safe to assume that not all of them play sports — especially in the current political climate.

And at AGHS, which has an enrollment of nearly 2,000, there are “about four or five, from what I’ve heard, males identifying as female,” Kessler said on the radio. 

Given those numbers, the likelihood of having a trans athlete on a girls team is slim at best. Yet we’re being led to believe that it’s not only commonplace, but also, that “biological males” are routinely finishing in front of girls, acing them out of athletic opportunities and — due to their greater size and strength — putting them in physical danger in team competitions.

High stakes for school districts

School districts in California are caught in the middle, facing down angry crowds insisting they follow Trump’s executive order, even though that would be in direct violation of state law.

In San Luis Obispo County, districts have been warned there could be a host of consequences if they were to defy the state, including loss of state funding, discrimination lawsuits, loss of insurance coverage and suspension from CIF — the governing body for high school sports.

There could also be personal consequences for individuals. Elected officials could be held personally liable, and school administrators could lose their credentials, according to a letter from County Schools Superintendent James Brescia. 

Where will it end?

It will likely be up to U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the federal government can enact a nationwide ban on transgender athletes in girls sports, but for now, the vast majority of California school districts are complying with state rules.

Waving signs and showing up at school board meetings is not going to change that. Neither is pointing fingers at young trans athletes who are just trying to be their true selves in the face of cruel backlash and who have every right under current state law to participate in sports.

Focusing on a culture war issue over which local schools have zero control only serves to create a climate of hostility that turns school board meetings into battlegrounds.

If you’re a parent who really must take up this fight, leave the kids out of it and go talk to the legislators in Sacramento.

If you’re a student who is uncomfortable in a locker room or restroom situation, think about how you can control your comfort and see if you can find a solution for yourself.

Finally, on the courts and fields, let’s all remember why we love sports so much: for the teamwork and the camaraderie and the chance to challenge yourself — win or lose.

Do all of that, and at the end of the day, girls sports — and maybe all of us as a community — will be better off. 

This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "In SLO County, ‘biological males’ are not hijacking girls sports | Opinion."