‘It’s not fair’: Transgender girl smashes records at school sports day

Parents at a private Catholic school have voiced “anger” after a transgender student broke a number of records competing against girls at a recent sports day.

Parents at a private Catholic school in South Australia have voiced “anger” and “disappointment” after a transgender student broke a number of records competing against girls at a recent sports day.

The K-12 school, which news.com.au is not identifying, hosted its annual sports day earlier this year, where the 13-year-old student’s performance reportedly caused a stir among parents.

“We were at the sports day, there was just a lot of chat about a boy (who) transitioned into a girl, (they) were breaking all the girls’ records,” said one father who has a seven-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son at the school.

The local builder said there had been “rumours” among parents after the same student’s performance at last year’s event.

“All the parents were talking about it, even the primary school parents,” he said.

“It became quite noticeable. A lot of mums and dads, it became quite apparent a lot of (their) daughters were losing. It was anger — I mean, for (that child) to be competing with girls in a Catholic school of all places.”

Following last year’s sports day, the school took to social media to congratulate a number of students for breaking records, saying it was “not an easy achievement”.

The transgender student was singled out for setting a new under-13 female javelin record of 20.58 metres — smashing the previous record by more than three metres.

It did not make a similar post this year, sharing only the overall house results.

The father said usually the sports day notice would be sent out with all the winners “but it didn’t come out (this year) because this (child) won the majority of the events — running, high jump, javelin, discus”.

The transgender girl ‘won the majority of the events’. Picture: iStock

He stressed that he didn’t want the transgender student to “cop abuse” but said “we can’t allow this kind of stuff to happen, to change the whole school for one person”.

Another father, who has three children at the school, said “the entire day was marred”.

“Literally all day, it was all anyone was really discussing,” he said.

“Every parent was disappointed. A lot of parents with kids competing, they felt essentially that the school was wronging their kids. In the name of fairness they were making it completely unfair for 10 or 15 or 20 other girls. It’s not fair morally or whatever way you want to look at it. This (child) broke a heap of records that day, I know some were 10-, 20-, 30-year-old records.”

He approached a school official on the day to voice his concerns and says he was told “that’s disappointing to hear” but “I haven’t had anyone say anything today (about the student competing)”.

Since then a number of parents have emailed the school about the issue.

That evening, the first dad sent an email to the school’s principal, in which he referred to the student as “a boy” ad claimed “a male student is pretending to be a girl”.

“Numerous concerns come to mind, child safety, equality and morality being the main ones,” he wrote. “Watching this (child) compete against girls and winning at the sports day was very concerning.

“Physically boys will be able to outcompete girls, hence the need for male and female sports. Also taking from some poor girl an opportunity to further herself in her athletics.”

The policy ‘overrides any complaint the school might receive’. Picture: SA Department of Education

The school last year also began installing gender-neutral toilets.

“I have a daughter at the school and if (this child) is being freely allowed to go into the female toilets, you’re setting yourself up for lawsuits,” the dad wrote.

“As a private Catholic school I would be under the assumption that this would not even be a thing my children and us as parents would need to worry about.

“I appreciate the need to love all people and show kindness but that does not mean that we should bend from our morals.”

He claimed the $5000-a-year school “as a whole has taken a downward turn as it seems to be more run like a public school with poorer standards in dress code and representation”.

“Unfortunately I am not the only one with these concerns and would like to see a private school standard set and better executed as to not have things like this arise in what is supposed to be a Catholic school,” he wrote.

“We send our children to this school for Catholic structure, rules that are set for all to adhere to and a safer environment than a public school.”

He said he received a phone call from the principal but “she hasn’t answered my questions”.

“It was just ‘we can appreciate your concerns’, ‘we can appreciate’ this, ‘we can appreciate’ that,” he said. “It was just the most political response. (She said) there was nothing she could do, that it’s nationwide that you can’t discriminate against children (based on) gender identity.”

Diocese of Port Pirie diocesan director of Catholic education Nichii Mardon said in a statement: “To support the privacy, dignity and wellbeing of all students, we are not able to comment on individual student circumstances. We work in partnership with families on all matters relating to student learning and wellbeing.”

The SA Education Department’s policy document states in relation to school competitive sport that “the goal of full participation by gender diverse children and young people in all types of sport activity includes participation in competitive sport”.

It notes that federal and state legislation, namely the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act and the SA Equal Opportunity Act, prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity by an educational authority.

The student previously broke the javelin record by three metres. Picture: iStock

“All children and young people must be supported to participate in events that align with their gender identity,” it says.

“This includes all sport run by schools including inter-school competitions and School Sport SA … Compliance with law overrides any complaint the school might receive about including a gender diverse child or young person in any competitive sport.”

The policy also mandates that “all children should have access to toilet and changeroom facilities that respect their privacy, safety and inclusion”.

“A gender diverse child or young person should be able to access the facilities that match their gender identity,” it says.

“Education settings might also have unisex or gender-neutral facilities, which any child or young person can use. This can help create an inclusive environment for gender diverse and intersex children and young people.”

SA Education Minister Blair Boyer has been contacted for comment.

Sarah Game, One Nation’s South Australian upper house member, said the incident showed Labor and the Coalition needed to “re-establish biological reality in the law”.

Dr Game said last month’s UK Supreme Court ruling, which held that sex was defined as biological sex under the country’s equality law, highlighted the “spineless” attitude of the major Australian parties on the issue.

She took aim at ousted Liberal leader Peter Dutton, who repeatedly refused to answer a reporter’s question on whether “trans women are women” while on the campaign trail. Mr Dutton, speaking to reporters last month to unveil the Coalition’s $90 million domestic violence package, instead referenced the UK court decision.

“A woman and gender is defined with reference made the other day to a case in the United Kingdom,” he said. “I think a woman is defined as an adult female and that is the definition.”

In February, however, Mr Dutton hinted he supported US President Donald Trump’s moves to stop trans people competing in sport against biological girls, declaring that allowing it to occur is “not in the spirit of sport”.

One Nation South Australian MLC Sarah Game. Picture: Instagram

In 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was accused of being a “transphobe” after he was asked the controversial “what is a woman” question in an interview with UK broadcaster Piers Morgan.

“An adult female,” Mr Albanese replied simply.

“How difficult was that to answer?” Morgan asked.

“Not too hard,” the PM said. “I was asked during the campaign actually, but I think that we need to respect people for whoever they are … People who are young people coming to terms with their identity and who they are, I think they need to be respected as well.”

Dr Game said only One Nation was prepared to “stand up for Australian families and common sense” by taking action, including advocating for a national ban on puberty blockers, banning biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sport, and banning biological males from accessing spaces dedicated to biological females.

“One of the major reasons why the Coalition haemorrhaged votes to One Nation in the Federal Election is our rock-solid, commonsense policies on men in women’s sport, and gender ideology being taught in schools,” Dr Game told news.com.au.

“That contrasts sharply with former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s non-response to whether or not he supports the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that a woman is someone born biologically female, and that trans gender women are not women. When we make laws, feelings cannot trump facts, and while we expect the Labor-Greens alliance to embrace this illogical nonsense, it seems the Coalition isn’t strong enough to speak the truth.”

Dr Game said she was currently drafting legislation that would prohibit biological men and boys from participating in female-designated sporting and athletics competitions in South Australia.

“What happened recently over in a South Australian school, where a (biological) boy broke girls’ sports day records, is another example of how ridiculous this gender dysphoria situation has become,” she said.

“It’s ridiculous that we even have to say this, but girls should be competing against girls, not biological males. The idea that you can change your biological sex with a piece of paper or even by surgery is demonstrably absurd.”

Originally published as ‘It’s not fair’: Transgender girl smashes records at school sports day