The father of a California high school athlete forced to compete with a transgender student had a poignant message for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Dan Slavin said his daughter Kaitlyn was punished for protesting against trans athletes after her friend was booted of the Martin Luther King High cross-country team.
Ninth grader Kaitlyn and 11th grader Taylor claim they were told by school officials that students who wore t-shirts protesting trans athletes that they were akin to wearing Nazi swastika.
The girls wore shirts that said Protect Girls Sports and Its Common Sense XX ≠ XY after a trans athlete was given Taylors spot on the girls varsity team, despite allegedly not attending as many practices or putting in as much effort as Taylor.
Slavin said when he and other parents learned the trans student was joining the team, they contacted the school but were brushed off because of the state laws on transgender athletes.
If nothing changes here in the next couple of years, it absolutely should be part of the next election, Slavin told Fox News.
I want to see policies change. I keep saying the system is broken, and its doing more harm than good. And I want to see people understand that and admit that.
Sometimes, we make mistakes, and its OK to admit that, but we need to make changes and get out of those mistakes we make.
High schoolers Kaitlyn and Taylor claim they were told by school officials that students who wore t-shirts protesting trans athletes that they were akin to wearing Nazi swastika
Taylor was booted of the Martin Luther King High cross-country team and replaced with a transgender student
California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics.
Newsom signed a law in July that bans public school districts from requiring staff to notify parents when their children change the pronouns they use in class.
Id love to sit down and have lunch with [Newsom] to talk to him about this and see how that goes, Slavin said.
I would probably just tell him that I get you want everybody to feel included, but youre missing out on how many people its actually affecting and hurting.
The girls and their parents are suing the Riverside Unified School District over allegations their freedom of expression was infringed.
School officials claimed the messages on plaintiffs shirts created the same level of hostility as a student wearing a swastika in front of a Jewish student, the lawsuit states.
It was definitely hurtful. We are in no way trying to be hateful were just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in and trying to raise awareness to a situation, Kaitlyn told Fox News.
It was not targeted to an individual at all, which the athletic director kept making it seem like it was.
Slavin said the experience has been challenging for his daughter and that she does not have a hateful bone in her body.
Kaitlyns father said he wants to talk with Newsom about the effects of his policies and warned it could be an issue for the next election
Their teammate, Kylie Morrow (pictured), 16, made an impassioned plea to the school board during a recent meeting begging to have the trans student removed from the team
Its been tough on her. Shes been there with her teammates and her teammates in tears, Slavin said.
Shes been trying to balance out how to still love all people but also how to raise awareness.
The message gets conflicted as an attack on people, and its not about that at all. We want all people to feel love, all people to feel included, but some people just dont see the common sense side of it.
Their teammate, Kylie Morrow, 16, made an impassioned plea to the school board during a recent meeting begging to have the trans student removed from the team.
It feels as though that my school and the school district is choosing to support one person instead of the whole team, Morrow said.
To see the athletic director turn around and tell my teammates that their shirts that say, Save girls sports be compared to a swastika, that is not okay.
These girls feel silenced, they felt silenced, and when they finally did something to speak out against it . . . they were completely stabbed in the back.
Morrow added that she felt unsafe in a situation where she was forced to share a locker room with a biological male wearing booty shorts.
It is not okay that I have to be in that position, and I have to see a male in booty shorts, and having to see that around me, as a 16-year-old girl I dont see that as a safe environment, Morrow said.
Going into a locker room and seeing males in there, I dont find that safe, I dont find going to the bathroom safe when theres guys in there. Its not okay. Im a 16-year-old girl!