A basketball coach at a private school in Vermont, who was banned by the state school association after losing a game last year to avoid playing against a boy claiming to be a girl, is defending his actions despite severe punishment by very woke school officials.
Chris Godwin, the girls basketball coach at Mid-Vermont Christian School in White River Junction, Vermont, has decided that his team will not play in a state playoff game on Feb. 21, 2023.
Goodwin made the decision because the opponent had a boy playing on his team who claimed to be a transgender girl. Goodwin said it was unfair and unsafe for his girls to play.
At the time, Vicki Fogg, principal of Mid-Fairmont Christian School, wrote in an email to the Valley News, which covers the White River Junction area, that Goodwin forfeited the game because the transgender player “jeopardizes the fairness and safety of the game.” From our players.”
“Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general,” Fogg wrote.
But the school was soon attacked by the Vermont Principals Association, which accused Mid-Vermont Christian of violating state laws requiring schools to let transgender athletes choose the team they feel most comfortable playing on at any given time.
The School Administrators Association has prohibited Mid-Vermont Christian from participating in all VPA-sanctioned activities, which include not only athletics, but also extracurricular competitions such as drama and debate competitions and science and math fairs.
In turn, Christian Med Vermont filed a lawsuit against the association, claiming “religious discrimination and unconstitutional hostility.” In addition to the Vermont State Administrators Association, defendants named in the suit include leaders of the Vermont Education Agency and the State Board of Education.
The lawsuit claims the ban prevents Vermont Christians from participating in the state's “tuition” program — a form of school vouchers that pay tuition for students in private schools — and the state's dual enrollment program, which allows high school students to earn college credits.
In other words, the stakes are higher than in a basketball game.
Goodwin appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Monday to talk about his experience and defend his actions.
“I have four daughters. I've coached all of them at some point in their careers playing high school basketball,” Goodwin said, criticizing the idea of boys playing like girls.
“I've also filled in as the boys' coach when he can't run practice, and I run those drills, and the boys play at a different speed, a different intensity…than the girls play. It's a different game.”
Goodwin explained that he felt it would be “irresponsible” to allow the girls' team to play against a man, and added that he would be “asking for an injury” from the stronger, faster player.
No school should be punished for its belief in biology.
Chris Goodwin, client and girls coach at Mid-Vermont Christian School, shares the story ⬇️ | @Fox News pic.twitter.com/5sWcVhHvxT
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) February 26, 2024
In a scathing March 13, 2023, memo to Mid-Vermont Christian, the School Administrators Association said the school had not met the group's commitment to “racist,” “gender inequitable” and “gender identity” policies.
“Therefore, Mid-Vermont Christian School is ineligible to participate in VPA activities in the future,” the memo said.
In a statement to CNN after Mid-Vermont Christian School filed the lawsuit in November, the governing body said the school “has every right to teach its beliefs to its students.” However, it cannot impose those beliefs on other public and private school students; Depriving students of other schools of the opportunity to play; Or harming students from other schools because of the identity of those students.
In its lawsuit, Mid-Vermont Christian says it is “irreparably harmed by being denied participation” in state athletic competitions and “forfeits competitive athletics as well as academic competition.”
“The VPA will not even allow the school and its students to participate in co-ed academic competitions such as the Geo-Bee, the Science and Math Fair, and the Debate and Forensics League — all because the school believes the biological boys are boys and cannot confirm otherwise,” the lawsuit states.
“The state has a right to its own views, but it does not have the right, nor is it constitutional, to force private religious schools throughout the state to follow that doctrine as a condition of participation in the Vermont Education Program and the Vermont Education Program,” the report argues. State Sports Federation.”
Goodwin does not regret the seizure.
“After discussions with management, players and parents, we decided that rather than go against our religious beliefs that there are differences between males and females, we are created differently, we decided to forfeit that game and withdraw from the tournament.” He told “Fox and Friends.”
Ryan Tucker, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom that represents the Mid-Vermont Christian District, accused the Directors Association of trying to silence dissent.
“The state is basically trying to purge individuals like Chris and other family members in the state, from public discourse, from the ability … to speak publicly … on issues of great public concern,” he said on “Fox & Friends.”
He accused the state of failing to take into account “biological reality” and the health and safety risks to female athletes.
He added: “We are very confident that we will prevail.”
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
