Perspectives; Thoughts; Comments; Opinions; Discussions

Posts tagged ‘High School Sports’

Christian Coach Fired for Stating Views on Obvious Sex Differences


BY: KIYAN KASSAM | JULY 27, 2023

Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/27/christian-coach-fired-for-stating-views-on-obvious-sex-differences/

Snowboarder walking up a snowy hill holding snowboard behind his back.

Author Kiyan Kassam profile

KIYAN KASSAM

MORE ARTICLES

A former high school snowboarding coach filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired for expressing his views on transgender-identifying athletes. The 31-page complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — a faith-based legal advocacy group — on behalf of David Bloch, along with a motion for preliminary injunction seeking Bloch’s immediate reinstatement.

“On February 8, 2023, Coach Bloch and his team were waiting in the lodge for a competition to start. That day, his team was to compete against a team that had a male snowboarder who identifies as a female and competes against females,” the lawsuit states. While in the lodge, Bloch says he overheard a conversation between two of his student-athletes and briefly joined in.

Bloch “affirmed that as a matter of biology, males and females have different DNA, which causes males to develop differently from females and have different physical characteristics.” He added that “biological differences generally give males competitive advantages in athletic events” — something you must pretend is deeply controversial, despite the fact that a large majority of Americans agree.

According to a new Gallup survey released in June, nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults believe transgender-identifying athletes “should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth gender” as opposed to their “current gender identity.” Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center study from last year found that 6 in 10 Americans “say a person’s gender is determined by their sex assigned at birth.”

“The conversation was respectful among all parties and lasted no more than three minutes. It took place entirely outside the presence of the transgender-identifying snowboarder,” the lawsuit states. “Coach Bloch’s team and the team with the male who identifies as a female competed without incident. After the competition, the two teams and their coaches, including Coach Bloch, shared a bus home.”

But it didn’t matter. Bloch had committed wrong-think.

The coach was allegedly handed a notice of termination the very next day by Windsor Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Sherry Sousa. He was accused of violating the school district’s harassment, hazing, and bullying (HHB) policy as well as a related policy of the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA), which oversees high school sports in the state. Bloch was also “barred from future employment” with the district.

“No one should lose their job for speaking the truth. The First Amendment protects the rights of all Americans to peacefully share their beliefs without fear of government punishment. This means that government officials cannot terminate an employee simply because he expresses a belief that they do not like,” ADF said in a statement.

Specifically, the lawsuit argues that the HBB and VPA policies, as well as a Vermont statute requiring school boards to adopt such policies, “contain content and viewpoint discriminatory, overbroad, and unconstitutionally vague definitions of harassment that … censor protected speech.”

The complaint notes that Bloch is “a practicing Roman Catholic who believes that God creates males and females with immutable sex. His understanding of science complements his religious beliefs. Coach Bloch believes, based on scientific evidence, that there are only two sexes, which are male and female, and that sex is determined by a person’s chromosomes.”

Views like these terrify elites and the corporate press. In a May article, The Washington Post bemoaned that “Most Americans don’t believe it’s even possible to be a gender that differs from that assigned at birth” and worried that (God forbid) some in the country “have become more conservative on these questions.”

It’s worth highlighting the irony that those requiring you to deny the reality of sex today are often the very same people who spent the past three years demanding you “follow the science!”

Suffice to say, these are not good-faith actors; they’re liars and propagandists interested only in advancing a political agenda. Regard them as such.


Kiyan Kassam is a conservative writer. Follow him on Twitter at @kiyankassam.

Wrestler Ends Career by Forfeiting to Girls, Cites Religious and Personal Beliefs


Reported By Bryan Chai | Published March 3, 2019 at 10:26pm

It’s no secret that the far left is utterly intent on blurring and destroying the lines of gender distinction. From hospitals to movies to plays to bathrooms, far leftists seem almost obsessed with destroying the very notion of man and woman. In no arena, however, is that train of thought more impactful and destructive than in the realm of sports.

No matter what leftists try to say, there is a scientific difference between men and women. In matters of strength, agility and stamina, men will typically have the advantage over women, especially in high school sports where teenagers are still growing and developing physically. Unfortunately, that pervasive line of thinking from the left only seems to continue to grow as more institutions kowtow to that insane fantasy.

And yet, there may be hope after all.

As Fox News reports, this damaging line of thinking from the far left that manhood and womanhood are somehow interchangeable hasn’t infected everyone. 18-year-old Brendan Johnston, a senior at the Classical Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ended his high school wrestling career with some curious losses.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with losing in wrestling or other sports. Losing happens in life and it’s important to learn from losing, no matter what participation trophies try to argue otherwise. But in Johnston’s case, those losses might actually make the senior more impressive than if had he won those respective matches.

That’s because, according to KDVR-TV, Johnston forfeited his first round match in a Colorado state wrestling tournament to Jaslynn Gallegos, a senior at Skyview High. Fox News notes that Johnston’s “religious and personal beliefs” spurred his decisions. Johnston then effectively ended his high school wrestling career with another forfeit when he refused to wrestle Angel Rios, a junior at Valley High, in the loser’s bracket.

To put it bluntly, good for Johnston. His refusal to wrestle the girls is a breath of fresh air in a sports world where biological men are lauded for beating women.

“It’s so physical… physically close. I don’t think that’s really appropriate with a young lady. It’s also very aggressive and I’m not really, I guess, comfortable with that,” Johnston told KDVR.

“And I guess the physical aggression, too,” Johnston told the Denver Post. “I don’t want to treat a young lady like that on the mat. Or off the mat. And not to disrespect the heart or the effort that she’s put in. That’s not what I want to do, either.”

“My coach always says, ‘Wrestling is what we do, not who we are,’ and that’s something I’ve taken to heart,” Johnston said to KDVR. “The decision I made was important to me, enough to know that I’d be done with my career after that — at least for high school. I’m OK with that.”

It may just be one instance, but it’s still a ray of hope in an increasingly dreary sports landscape.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Summary

More Info Recent Posts Contact

Bryan Chai has been a writer for The Western Journal for over two years and has written more than 1,300 stories for Conservative Tribune and The Wildcard. He specializes in sports and politics.

Tag Cloud