As rules regarding transgender sports participation proliferate high school athletics, many programs have instituted policies requiring student-athletes to submit their birth certificates as proof that they are competing on the team that matches their gender assigned at birth. However, that one-size-fits-all approach has left one Eastmark (Ariz.) High School student without the chance to join his school’s boys’ basketball team.
According to WCAX, Laker Jackson was in the middle of his high school basketball tryouts when the Eastmark athletic director physically removed him from tryouts and said he was breaking the school’s policy on “fairness and equality” due to a clerical error on his brith certificate. Jackson’s gender assigned at birth is listed as female.
“I give them the birth certificate, and they’re like, ‘Did you know this says female?’” Jackson’s mother said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s so funny.’ So, we come home. Everyone’s laughing.” She went on to say that the mistake on the birth certificate has never caused any issues, so it has never been fixed.
Following Jackson’s removal from team tryouts, the family got a “corrected birth certificate along with a note from a doctor,” but the Queen Creek Unified School District requires the original birth certificate and will not take the corrected version.
“Now, they may consider changing it if we get chromosomal testing. They didn’t say they would. It says they may,” Jackson’s mother said.
QCUSD released a statement saying, “Queen Creek Unified School District is committed to ensuring fairness, integrity, and equal opportunity in all athletic programs for both boys and girls. We take great care to follow state and district guidelines that support competitive equity and student well-being. In this particular case, the student has been enrolled in QCUSD since elementary school and has been registered as a biological female throughout their time in our district. (…) We informed the parent that documentation such as a chromosome analysis could be considered to help support or verify eligibility in accordance with policy.”
According to the New York Post, Eastmark High School told Jackson he can tryout for the girls’ basketball team as that aligns with his gender assigned at birth, despite the fact that he has been examined by a doctor and ruled as a biological male.
