The basketball coach at Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited a game due to a transgender player on the opposing team, citing concerns of fairness and safety for his girls.
This led to the school being banned from VPA-sanctioned activities.
The player “jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” Mid Vermont Christian Head of School Vicky Fogg wrote.
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general,” Fogg wrote.
The school filed a lawsuit against the association, claiming religious discrimination.
The coach defended his actions on “Fox & Friends,” emphasizing the physical differences between boys and girls in sports.
“I’ve got four daughters. I’ve coached them all at one point in their careers playing high school basketball,” coach Chris Goodwin said.
“I’ve also filled in for the boys’ coach when he can’t make a practice, and I run those practices, and boys just play at a different speed, a different force … than the girls play. It’s a different game.”
The VPA accused the school of not meeting gender-fair policies, leading to their ineligibility for future activities.
The governing body stated that Mid Vermont Christian “has every right to teach its beliefs to its own students. It cannot, however, impose those beliefs on students from other public and private schools; deny students from other schools the opportunity to play; or hurt students from other schools because of who those students are.”
The lawsuit argues that the school is being denied participation in sports and academic competitions due to its beliefs.
Mid Vermont Christian stated that it has been “irreparably harmed by being denied participation” in state sports competitions and is “losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competition.”
“The VPA won’t even allow the School and its students to participate in co-ed academic competitions like the Geo-Bee, Science and Math Fair, and Debate and Forensics League-all because the School believes biological boys are boys and cannot affirm otherwise,” the lawsuit states.
“The State is entitled to its own views,” it argues, “but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont’s tuitioning program and the State’s athletic association.”
The coach and the school are standing by their decision, supported by an attorney from Alliance Defending Freedom.
“After discussions with the administration and our players and parents, we decided that instead of going against our religious beliefs that … there are differences between male and female, we are created differently, we decided to forfeit that game and withdraw from the tournament,” Goodwin said.
“The state is basically attempting to purge individuals like Chris and other family members in the state, from public discourse, from the ability … to speak out … on issues of significant, public concern,” attorney Ryan Tucker said.
“We’re very confident that we’re going to prevail,” he said.
No school should be punished for believing in biology.
Chris Goodwin, client and girls coach for Mid Vermont Christian School, shares the story ⬇️ | @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/5sWcVhHvxT
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) February 26, 2024
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