At Randolph Union High School in Vermont, the Girls’ Volleyball team is now banned from using their own locker room. The team of teenage girls has been barred from the facilities after complaining that a ‘transgender’ student was present while they changed.
The girls on the team told school administrators in a complaint that the ‘transgender’ player also made an “inappropriate remark” while the girls changed clothes, according to Timcast News.
Local news outlet WCAX-TV reported that Vermont’s education policy specifies that students can play sports and use the locker room that corresponds to their identified gender.
The policy states, “a transgender student should not be required to use a locker room or restroom that conflicts with the student’s gender identity.”
One Student Speaks Out
A female student from Randolph High School, Blake Allen, spoke to reporters about her discomfort with a male being in the locker room with the female volleyball players.
Randolph High School investigating gender locker room dispute pic.twitter.com/wfkU70lW4k
— Vlemx4u (@vlemx4u) October 1, 2022
“It’s a huge thing. Everyone’s asking, ‘So, why aren’t you allowed in the locker room?’” Allen said.
“My mom wants me to do this interview to try to make a change,” Allen told reporters from WCAX-TV. “I feel like for stating my opinion — that I don’t want a biological man changing with me — that I should not have harassment charges or bullying charges. They should all be dropped.”
“There are biological boys that go into the girl’s bathroom but never a locker room,” she added.
In an email sent to parents, the local outlet reported, school officials wrote that there is “plenty of space where students who feel uncomfortable with the laws may change in privacy.”
As Allen explained, the school officials may have a different definition of “plenty of space.”
“They want all the girls who feel uncomfortable — so pretty much 10 girls — to get changed in a single stall bathroom, which would take over 30 minutes. Where if one person got changed separately, it would take a minute, like no extra time,” Allen said.
The School Board’s Reaction To Volleyball Team
Millington said in the statement, “We will further assess with law enforcement what we learn over the next 24 hours and use it to create a response plan to ensure our students and schools continue to be safe and supportive.”