WI: 3 Sets of Parents Attempt to Drive Trans Child Off a Sports Team
In Green Bay, some loud parents are dominating a discussion, but there are signs the community does not agree with their anti-trans views.
by Evan Urquhart
this is a stock image only and does not depict anyone involved
Three families in Green Bay Wisconsin have brought national attention to a high school sports team where a transgender girl has reportedly been joining practices in advance of the official start to the school year. Two parents, Ryan Gusick and Heather Longlais, have been quoted by Fox News, the Washington Journal, and OutKick, in stories that recycled reporting by the local Fox affiliate and other outlets. A third family, which has gone unnamed, is also reported to have expressed concerns. The three families have said they plan to remove their daughters from the team rather than allowing them to participate alongside a transgender girl.
At a meeting for athletes and their families last Thursday night, school officials reportedly explained their policies were in accordance with non-discrimination laws and Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regulations. These regulations allow transgender girls to participate on teams with other girls if they consistently present as girls social and have a year of documented testosterone suppression.
Several stories have picked up on a line in the Fox 11 story claiming that the anti-trans parents reported their daughters were unusually banged up after practices and games.
screenshot from Fox 11 News
While the sport is being intentionally left out of stories to protect the safety and confidentiality of the student athletes, injuries are common in many sports. Most information about sports injuries does not make mention of bruises or welts, a common type of injury that doesn’t rise to the level of needing medical care.
While the anti-trans parents have been featured most prominently in both local media coverage and stories aggregating that coverage for the national right-wing press, there are signs that the three sets of parents who have objected are not representative of the feelings of the athletes or other parents at the school. Kathy Heath, who was identified as a parent of a student athlete in an article for the local NBC affiliate, spoke alongside an alumnus of the high school in support of the transgender girl to both the NBC and Fox affiliates, saying they believe most of the concerns are coming from parents, not athletes themselves.
screenshot from Fox 11 News
To try and gauge the community’s response, Assigned also reviewed some public social media posts of both Gusick and Longlais. Longlais’ post had two comments in response, both of which seemed to come from supporters of the transgender girl. Gusick’s post seems to have found more agreement, including a comment by Longlais, two Gusick family members, and others, but it also had pushback in the form of a comment accusing Gusick of bullying a vulnerable child. (Because these posts might make it easier to identify the school or the trans girl involved, we have decided not to link out to or include screenshots from the social media site.)
When the media leads with the complaints of anti-trans parents, it risks giving the impression that these parents are in the mainstream of their community. This is concerning in situations like these where there is no reason to believe that’s true. Assigned will continue to watch this story as it unfolds.