CV NEWS FEED // The coach of a Christian girls’ basketball team that forfeited a game against a team with a “trans” player spoke out against gender ideology in a recent interview, pointing out the danger of having girls play basketball with a biological male.
Chris Goodwin, the coach for the Mid-Vermont Christian School’s girl’s basketball team, told FOX News that allowing his team of high school girls to play against a biological male would have been “irresponsible” and “asking for an injury.”
“I’ve got four daughters. I’ve coached them all at one point in their careers playing high school basketball. I’ve also filled in for the boy’s 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,” he said.
In February 2023, Goodwin coached a basketball team of high school girls that was scheduled to play against a team that included a transgender player who was over six feet tall. Before the game, Goodwin watched video footage of a different girls’ basketball game in which the transgender player shoved an opponent out of the way, knocking her to the ground.
Goodwin then decided to forfeit the upcoming game for the protection of his players.
”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 told FOX News.
The decision caused the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) to label the team as discriminatory, and the school’s athletic teams were then banned from playing in future VPA tournaments.
“Mid-Vermont Christian School has every right to teach its beliefs to its own students,” the VPA said in a statement to CNN in November 2023:
[Mid-Vermont Christian School] 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 ban also extends to other VPA competitions, such as math or spelling bees and debates.
Goodwin, the school, and several families filed a lawsuit over the ban in November, saying that the VPA’s actions constitute religious discrimination. The plaintiffs are represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
“Vermont, through its education agency and sports association, has engaged in unconstitutional discrimination by requiring a Christian school and its students to surrender their religious beliefs and practices in order to receive public funds and compete in sports,” ADF Legal Counsel Jake Reed stated in a November press release.
ADF attorney Ryan Tucker, who represents Goodwin, told FOX News in a recent interview that Vermont “is completely failing to consider the biological reality” and “health and safety consequences” of having a male play basketball with female athletes.
“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,” Tucker continued.
However, Tucker added that he is “very confident” that Goodwin and the school will win the lawsuit.
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