A 9-year-old girl was left devastated and in tears after a man demanded certification of her gender before she competed in a shot-put event at a recent track meet in British Columbia, Canada.
The mothers of the Kelowna girl told Castanet that their daughter was just about to throw when the grandfather of one of the other participants, Josef Tesar, started yelling at her.
"She went to step up to compete for the grade four shot-put final, and right before she went to throw, a grandfather of a student said, 'Hey, this is supposed to be a girls' event, and why are you letting boys compete.' My daughter is cisgender, born female, uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie haircut," said mom Heidi Starr.
Starr claims Tesar then demanded certification that their daughter was born female, while Tesar's wife called Starr a "genital mutilator, a groomer, and a pedophile."
"He stopped the entire event. He also pointed at another girl who also had short hair. He then piped in and said, 'Well, if she is not a boy, then she is obviously trans.," Starr told Castanet.
Central Okanagan School District superintendent Kevin Kaardal confirmed that the school is seeking to ban Tesar from all future events.
"Staff intervened and actually moved the shot-put away from where he was. The gentleman was not a part of our school district. We are taking steps to ensure he is not able to be on our school property or attend events in the future."
For his part, Tesar says the allegations against him are overblown, claiming that he never yelled at the Starr's daughter, but that he asked an official if the event is co-ed.
"I never yelled towards the girl. I went to the official in private and asked one only question if this a mixed competition" he said, noting that he then told the official that he thought there was a boy in the lineup.
"As I was walking away from the official, a woman saying 'I'm her mother' and [she was] yelling, and swearing at me and offering if I want to see [the girl] naked, or if I want to see her genitals," Tesar said. "I said 'No, the certificate is OK.' That's all I said. I never pointed to another girl and said she's obviously trans. That is a big lie as well."
Tesar's wife, Krista Tesar, conceded that she said something "appropriate, not those words...maybe something like F off."
While Tesar spoke with the Okanagan principal after the event, he stands by his questions regarding the girl's gender.
"I am not apologizing for that question that I asked. I think personally I have a right to ask questions, and I always will for rest of my life," he said. "The mothers should apologize to me for offering and asking me if I want to see their daughter naked and genitals in front of the public and for their false statement and defamation of character."
Kari Starr, the girl's other mother, says Thursday's events have rocked their daughter's confidence.
"This has destroyed our beautiful daughter's confidence, and she was inconsolably crying during this whole event and continued once it was over and we were leaving. Not to mention, she was unable to concentrate on her track and field finals and the shot-put throw for which she had qualified," Kari said.
