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High school calls police, bans parents from soccer games for silently supporting girls-only teams

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6 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

The ‘No Trespass’ order alleged that parents wearing the pink wristbands ‘had the effect of intimidating, threatening, harassing, and discouraging’ the boy playing on the opposing girls team.

A New Hampshire high school halted a girls soccer game last week and called the police after parents, who were dismayed about a female-identifying male playing on the opposing team, were found to be wearing pink wristbands as a means of silent, peaceful protest.

Two parents subsequently received a notice from the superintendent of schools banning them from attending their daughters’ future games, asserting that by distributing the pink wristbands, which carried the simple message, “XX” (referring to the two chromosomes indicating the female sex), had the effect of “intimidating, threatening, harassing, and discouraging” the boy playing on the opposing girls team.

A NO TRESPASS order from Superintendent Mary Kelley sent to parent Anthony Foote of Bow, New Hampshire, alleges that “prior to and during the soccer game,” he “brought and distributed pink armbands to parents and other attendees to protest the participation of a transgender female student on the other team.”

“You are hereby prohibited from entering the buildings, grounds, and property of the Bow School District, including but not limited to all school administrative office buildings, parking lots, and athletic fields, until further notice,” the terse notice declared.

“You are also prohibited from attending any Bow School District athletic or extra-curricular event, on or off school grounds.”

“My daughter’s playing in the homecoming game this weekend, and I’m banned until the 23rd,” Foote told the NHJournal.  “I can’t watch her play in homecoming — which is ridiculous.”

Foote told the NHJournal that he doesn’t care about what Parker Tirrell, the male student playing on the rival team, wants to do with his life.

“What I do care about is that my daughter could be physically hurt, maybe not by Parker because he’s not the biggest kid on the field. But there’s a chance that next time will be different,” Foote said.

Gov. Chris Sununu had signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act into law in July, making the Granite State the 26th state to keep males from participating in girls’ sports events.

However, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty prevented the law from being enforced.

“Judge Landya McCafferty”s ruling has settled the question of allowing males to compete as girls for the moment … but the issue of free speech is not resolved,”  NHJournal’s Michael Graham noted. “It’s possible the school’s treatment of these parents violates their First Amendment rights, or that the school district’s interpretation of what is ‘disruptive behavior’ could be viewed by a court as too expansive.”

Foote also said he’s concerned that social pressure may prevent a large number of parents from expressing their views about the matter of boys competing in girls’ sports.

“Bow is a very blue town, and the people who run things will defend any liberal issue. It’s hard to speak out. But I would say there’s a silent majority,” Foote said. “There are firemen, there are police officers, there are teachers from other towns. They don’t agree, but they have to think about their finances. They have to protect their families. They can’t say anything.”

Parental concerns about their daughters being injured by males playing on what not so long ago were “female only” sports teams are by no means unfounded.

In nearby Massachusetts earlier this year, a gender-confused male playing on a girls high school basketball team injured three female players, causing the remaining female teammates to fear for their safety.

The Daily Item reported that Collegiate Charter School of Lowell ended its February 8 game against the KIPP Academy girls basketball team after just 16 minutes due to the KIPP team’s inclusion of a male player reportedly six feet tall with facial hair.

Earlier this year, LifeSiteNews’ Calvin Freiburger explained:

Inclusion of gender-confused individuals in opposite-sex sports is promoted by leftists as a matter of “inclusivity,” but critics note that indulging “transgender” athletes undermines the original rational basis for having sex-specific athletics in the first place, thereby depriving female athletes of recognition and professional or academic opportunities.

There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.

In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that “healthy young men (do) not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced to (below International Olympic Committee guidelines) for 20 weeks” and “indirect effects of testosterone” on factors such as bone structure, lung volume, and heart size “will not be altered by hormone therapy;” therefore, “the advantage to transwomen (biological men) afforded by the (International Olympic Committee) guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”

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Crime

Numbers don’t lie—crime up significantly in Toronto and across Canada

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From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

It’s no secret that politicians often cherry-pick statistics instead of telling the full story when the full story doesn’t look great for them. For example, amid concerns of rising auto theft and crime, the federal Liberals recently highlighted that auto theft is down 17 per cent versus last year. But this statement deserves scrutiny.

It’s true, according to an insurance fraud prevention group, there was a 17 per cent year-over-year decline in auto thefts in the first half of 2024. But this doesn’t mean the number of stolen cars is low. The reason for the year-over-year decline is that auto thefts spiked significantly in 2023. While down in the first half of 2024, auto thefts remain at elevated levels relative to prior years.

For example, the Toronto Police Service reports 5,049 auto thefts in the first half of 2024—down 21 per cent year-over year, but still very high relative to the first half of 2022 (4,480 auto thefts) and the first half of 2021 (2,769 auto thefts). In light of an 82 per cent increase in auto thefts in Toronto compared to just three years ago, the Trudeau government shouldn’t celebrate too loudly its record at stopping auto theft.

In addition, cherry-picking auto theft stats ignores crime increases in other areas. In the first half of 2024 (again, according to Toronto Police Service data), assaults were up 8 per cent year-over-year, breaking and entering was up 6 per cent, homicides were up 36 per cent, robberies were up 21 per cent, and sexual violations were up 17 per cent.

And it’s not just Toronto.

Take York Region as another example. Faced with criticism that violent crime had risen dramatically in Ontario since the Liberals took office, a Liberal MP from York Region called such criticism “false and misleading” and declared “our community is safe,” citing the York Region Police’s published crime statistics. But what do York Region crime statistics actually show?

Like in Toronto, in the first half of 2024 auto thefts were down significantly versus the first half of 2023, and weapons violations and sexual violations were also down. However, assaults, breaking and entering, drug violations and robberies were all up. And again, the longer-term trend shows most types of crime on the rise. Despite the decline versus 2023, in the first half of 2024 auto thefts were 120 per cent higher than in 2021. And compared to 2021, the first half of 2024 in York Region saw 58 per cent more assaults, 99 per cent more breaking and entering incidents, 193 per cent more robberies, 69 per cent more firearm violations and 51 per cent more violations with other weapons.

Across Canada, That’s just a fact. Statistics Canada’s violent crime severity index in 2023 was 41 per cent higher than in 2014, and a recent report from the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute revealed a surge in violent crime in Canada’s largest urban centres.

However you crunch the numbers, the Trudeau government’s record on crime is nothing to boast about.

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Disaster

Aid pours into North Carolina; dozens still missing

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From The Center Square

By 

Tragic stories continue to flow from western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene slamming the Appalachian Mountains nearly two weeks ago.

So, too, is the assistance. The General Assembly convenes Wednesday, with disaster assistance legislation expected to swiftly be passed.

Gov. Roy Cooper toured the area on Monday with Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Personnel are in the area from neighboring states, sent by other governors and the federal government.

The death toll is at least 230, according to published reports. The Asheville Citizen Times on Tuesday afternoon reported 62 missing persons cases are active in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock communities.

Eight hurricanes since 1950 have killed 100 or more people. Helene is only eclipsed – so far – by Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256).

Cooper and Criswell, along with U.S. Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot and Dual Status Commander Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, went through Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

In a release, the state Department of Public Safety said 2,500 soldiers and airmen are in the area with about 500 more coming. The Joint Task Force-North Carolina, led by the state’s National Guard, is paired with armed forces from 12 states, two units from the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Liberty near Fayetteville; the 101st from Fort Campbell in Kentucky; and a number of civilian entities.

More than 6,100 National Guardsman are present, a release from White House said. The Biden administration said it has already supplied more than $137 million in assistance, and more is expected.

Cooper’s administration said more than $33 million in FEMA assistances to individuals had already been paid to more than 109,000 people. More than 2,100 are housed in hotels through FEMA transitional sheltering. Nineteen shelters are open, with an estimated 780 people and 95 pets.

The Department of Public Safety said more than 1,300 responders from 35 state and local agencies have executed 107 missions of response and recovery. Cooper said North Carolina has used 417 specialized vehicles and 26 aircraft to help in search, rescue and supply delivery.

“These communities are home to family-owned businesses and neighbors who are helping one another,” Cooper said. “We will continue to work with western North Carolina to respond and recover from this catastrophic storm.”

In addition to the government aid, scores of churches and other organizations have sent tractor-trailer loads of supplies.

Tuesday midday, there were 622 road closures because of Helene across the state. This includes three interstates, 50 federal highways, 51 state roads and 518 secondary roads.

Published reports say the grim findings have included corpses discovered as landslides are cleared. Swannanoa and Hot Springs are two communities reportedly “obliterated.” Chimney Rock, a popular tourist attraction, was also hard hit with rushing water through the main thoroughfare.

“It has been a long 11 days for the people of our mountains, and it’s reaching the point where folks are just tired,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., said in a release. “We will get through this.”

Many in the region remain without running water, electricity and even the ability to travel. Eighty-six water systems, Edwards said, are on a boil advisory; 15 treatment plants have no power; and 27 systems are out of water.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida the night of Sept. 26. Its remnants sped through Georgia and soaked the higher altitudes of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene had tropical storm force wins stretching 420 miles, larger than the state of Georgia.

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