A video depicting an interaction between the assistant athletic director of the Princeton City School District in Cincinnati and a journalist posing as a parent of a transgender athlete has gone viral and drawn criticism — including from Ohio's attorney general.
As reported by Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC, the video was produced by the nonprofit organization "Accuracy in Media" and shows the assistant athletic director discussing the enrollment of a transgender student with an updated birth certificate.
"Do you recommend that we just enroll with the updated birth certificate and move on? Get her involved in sports and not really mention this again?" the journalist in the video says, as reported by WKRC.
The assistant athletic director, Tammette Duckworth, responds, "I would say, whether it's at Princeton or another school, I would suggest that."
According to WKRC, Ohio attorney general Dave Yost has sent a letter to the district, stating that the video depicts Duckworth providing guidance to circumvent Ohio law. According to the letter, Duckworth suggested that the transgender student not tell anyone of their previous gender and to "discreetly" change in the women's locker room.
"No school, interscholastic conference, or organization that regulates interscholastic athletics shall knowingly permit individuals of the male sex to participate on athletic teams or in athletic competitions designated only for participants of the female sex," the law states, as reported by WKRC.
"No school shall permit a member of the male biological sex to use a student restroom, locker room, changing room, or shower room that has been designated by the school for exclusive use of the female biological sex."
Yost's letter says that by circumventing this law, it not only leads to unfairness in competition, but could also subject the district to civil liability from other schools and/or parents of students forced to change in a locker room with a member of the opposite sex.
"Princeton stands for both compliance with the law and for justice. We urge our community not to be misled by misleading portrayals designed to divide and distract," the district said in statement said, as reported by WKRC.
