The Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) conducted a secret investigation into a champion student athlete who bested her opponents by a wide margin at a state competition.
The probe was undertaken in 2021 after the parents of the second and third place winners filed a complaint with the high school sports organization. They wanted to know if the champion student athlete was indeed biologically female because she did not appear feminine. They thought she was a transgender.
According to the UHSAA head, David Spatafore, he ordered a probe because they take such accusations seriously. However, the investigations were kept private, even to the champion student athlete and her parents, who did not have any inkling that the girl's records as far back from kindergarten were verified.
Spatafore claimed that there was no need to let the concerned people know that the school has been been digging into old records to spare any personal feelings. In their investigations, however, the winning student was proven to be a girl since birth. Thus, there was no need to further aggravate people.
"She'd always been a female," Spatafore said, per The Salt Lake Tribune.
The HN11 law in female high school sports
The UHSAA divulged the investigation, without naming the student or her sport, as the Utah Legislature Education Interim Committee is conducting hearings for HN11, the legislature banning transgender girls to join high school sports. Spatafore spoke to the committee to give examples of situations that the UHSAA has been dealing with in recent years.
In March, Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed the bill but the state Senate and House overrode the veto, thus establishing the law as of July. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that litigations will be coming with these new policies in place as the law is discriminatory against transgender teenagers, per Deseret News. In fact, the ACLU is representing two transgender female student athletes in a lawsuit against the state.
About 18 states in America have either passed or are in the process of approving similar laws against transgender athletes in high school sports. In New Jersey, lawmakers may require female athletes to ascertain their actual genitalia before they will be allowed to compete, which means random physical checks will be conducted at the school.
UHSAA investigation violated privacy
However, Utah mom-of-three Neca Allgood raised privacy concerns after learning of the UHSAA investigation because she has a son who transitioned and is currently a junior. The mother believes that state lawmakers do not seem to understand the impact of these laws on every girl or person's privacy.
Spatafore acknowledged the concern and said that this is a new area for the UHSAA to handle. Speaking with KJZZ 14, Spatafore said that they can't say what other changes or requirements among transgender student athletes will be brought forth, moving forward, because their actions and decisions will depend on the complaints filed before the agency.
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