Several of the girls on a high school soccer team in New Hampshire are refusing to play against a school that has a transgender player, according to reports.
On Tuesday, five girls on the Hillsboro-Deering High School Girls Varsity Soccer team mounted a boycott and refused to play against Kearsarge Regional High School, which has a male who identifies as a girl on its team.
The girls said that it was a “matter of biology” and boycotted their game over Kearsarge High’s inclusion of transgender player Maelle Jacques, the New Hampshire Journal reported.
“This isn’t about transgenderism. This is about biology for us and the increased physical risk when playing a full contact sport against the opposing sex,” said Heather Thyng, mother of a Hillsboro-Deering player who boycotted the game against Kearsarge High.
Another parent, Betsy Harrington., said the game against Kearsarge was “one-sided” because Jacques was so much faster and stronger than any of the girls on the field.
“No one ever got near [Jacques], so I guess they’ll never be in any danger if there’s enough girls to always have a weak team,” Harrington exclaimed. “If every game has a few girls refusing to play, we will never know the ability of the Kearsarge team. They have an advantage I hadn’t thought about. It’s that they get to always play a crippled team without all of their players.”
Thyng praised the boycotting players for their act of resistance.
“We believe, my daughter included, that refusing to compete is the best way to push back on this issue, and we are hoping parents will be more willing to put themselves out there knowing they don’t have to be the first or the only family within our community to do so,” Thyng told the media.
Parents were told the girls would not face disciplinary measures for their boycott. However, New Hampshire education law permits boys to identify as girls and pick whatever team they want to play in school.
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