WASHINGTON—The Daily Signal, the media arm of The Heritage Foundation, today released a powerful video featuring four high school girls who have been the targets of significant backlash for speaking out against their school allowing a male in their locker room.
Mary Margaret Olohan, a senior reporter for The Daily Signal, interviewed the girls this week in Randolph, Vermont. These volleyball players tell The Daily Signal they don’t bear any ill will toward the “transgender-identifying” student, but it makes them uncomfortable to have a male in the room when they are changing.
"It’s not fully the trans student’s fault. It is much more the school board’s fault and they’re failing everyone—not just the volleyball team, not the transgender student. They just want people to be in trouble and they’re not trying to help make a change,” 14-year-old Blake, a freshman volleyball player, says in the video.
Blake and other teenage girls detail an incident in September when a male student who “identifies” as transgender came in the Randolph Union High School’s locker room while girls were dressing.
“After a little while, the student did leave but it took a little bit for the student to leave and a lot of us were not comfortable with that situation. It’s happened before,” says 15-year-old Kayla, a sophomore volleyball player.
“I feel like everyone is trying to twist the story on this and make us the bad people in this situation,” Kayla says of school officials who quoted another volleyball player to insist nothing had happened.
School officials have pointed to a state law that requires public accommodations to be open to people of the opposite sex who “identify” as transgender.
Despite facing accusations of harassment, hazing, and bullying from the school that could go on her permanent record, Blake says she has no regrets in speaking out on the issue. “I’m glad I spoke out because there is still like so much that could be done, that the law could be changed.”
“I don’t want other girls to have to feel uncomfortable about it. I think everyone should be able to just get changed in a locker room that they were born as.”
Jay Richards, director of Heritage’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion and Family, noted the social costs for speaking out against transgender ideology are steep for students. “That’s why very few female athletes, who are the real victims, say anything publicly.”
“These four Vermont athletes have done the brave thing by refusing to stay silent. It’s now up to adults to make sure their bravery is not in vain,” he added.
Watch the full video here.
