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| A USA Today article has revealed people and groups (like the Alliance Defending Freedom - logo seen above) seeking to ban high school trans athletes have been relying on misrepresented information. |
In an exceptional piece of journalism, The USA Today took a look at the efforts and groups behind statewide attempts to ban trans athletes and found a lot of lies and misrepresentation.
It shouldn't surprise those of us in the know because every effort by religious right groups to denigrate LGBTQ people or deny us rights has been a smorgasbord of cherry-pickings, distortions, and out-and-out lies. Exposing the anti-LGBTQ industry and calling out their history of lies is how this blog made a name for itself since 2006.
In the spirit of all of that, I simply have to say that The USA Today article, Conservatives want to ban transgender athletes from girls sports. Their evidence is shaky by Rachel Axon and Brent Schrotenboer is a goddamn masterpiece worthy of a Pulitzer.
Yes, it's that good. I'm going to post snippets of it and highly suggest that folks read and share the entire article.
Grace Waggoner told lawmakers in February 2020 that her team had lost the first state tournament game it had played in decades to an opponent with a transgender player. She blamed an “unfair” Arizona Interscholastic Association policy that allows students to join teams consistent with their gender identity after going through a review. Waggoner offered few details on the athlete’s impact on the game, but bill sponsor Rep. Nancy Barto accepted it as evidence of a problem in her state.. . The game Waggoner referenced in her testimony turned out to be a state tournament play-in game in 2019 that Scottsdale Christian Academy lost to Heritage Academy, 16-6. Heritage Academy coach Steve LaDrigue said his team did not have a transgender player. What Waggoner didn’t say is that she’s the daughter of Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom – a conservative, legal nonprofit that has pushed transgender sports bans in states across the nation. When pressed for details about the game, an ADF spokesperson said in an email, “The widespread understanding on the team – including the coach, parents, and players – was that the athlete was male.” LaDrigue guesses the suspicion fell on the team’s catcher, his daughter, because she has short hair.
