The Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) on Wednesday adopted a new “Gender Identity Participation Policy” to make it easier for transgender or non-binary students to participate on high school sports teams in accordance with their “gender identity.”
The MPA is a private nonprofit corporation that regulates interscholastic high school athletics statewide, including both public and private schools.
“The Maine Principals’ Association is committed to providing all students with an equal opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity,” the policy reads.
“In furtherance of this commitment, the MPA has adopted the following policy related to the participation of students whose gender identity differs from the student’s sex assigned at birth,” it reads.
The policy defines “gender identity” as a “student’s innate sense of their gender,” which may be the same or different from their sex “assigned” at birth.
“Non-binary” is defined as “a student whose gender identity does not conform to traditional binary beliefs about gender being exclusively male or female.”
Notably, a student who wished to participate in MPA sponsored interscholastic athletics does not need to provide any medical records or official documents to establish their “gender identity.”
In fact, the policy explicitly prohibits schools from requesting a student’s medical records to establish their “gender identity.”
A student must simply “declare their gender identity” to their member school, and the student’s school will have the “sole authority to determine gender identity assignment for the purposes of athletic registration and participation in MPA sponsored events.”
The new policy allows transgender or non-binary students to participate in sports in accordance with either their biological sex or their declared “gender identity,” but not both.
A non-binary student may “select the gendered team on which they feel most comfortable participating,” under the policy.
“The member school will help to determine, through counseling and discussions with the student, the student’s status regarding gender identity,” the policy states. “Once a nonbinary student decides to participate in a sport different from the student’s assigned sex at birth, the student will be eligible to participate in sports offered for the selected gender, following the same rules as a transgender student.”
Additionally, students who at one time in their high school athletics career declared themselves as transgender or non-binary, they may simply go back to participating as a “cisgender student” in accordance with their biological sex.
Prior to their adoption of this new policy on Wednesday, transgender students were allowed to participate in sports in accordance with their chosen gender, but would have to participate in a hearing before the MPA and present evidence to establish a “consistent gender identity,” including medical documentation.
The MPA would then decide on whether to allow the transgender student to participate on the sports team of their choice based on if the student’s claim to be transgender is “bona fide,” and if their participation would result in an unfair athletic advantage or pose a risk of injury to other student athletes.
Now, however, under the new policy, that decision will be up to the individual MPA member high schools.
The issue of transgender students participating in sports garnered a large amount of controversy in Maine last year, when a male high school cross country athlete transitioned into a girl and began dominating his biologically female competition.
The full policy adopted by the MPA Wednesday can be read below:
