Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Grandparent shuts down school sport event falsely accusing girl of being trans because she had a ‘pixie cut’

Athletics competition was disrupted in Canadian town of Kelowna, British Columbia

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Wednesday 14 June 2023 18:32 BST
Comments
Related video: Trump rants that US should ‘keep men out of women’s sports’ in anti-trans speech

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A grandparent shut down a school sports event when he falsely accused a nine-year-old with a “pixie” haircut of being trans.

The youngster was taking part in a shot-put competition when the relative of one of the other participants disrupted the event in the Canadian town of Kelowna, British Columbia.

“She went to step up to compete for the grade four shot-put final, and right before she went to throw, a grandfather of a student said, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete.’ My daughter is cisgender, born female, uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie haircut,” her mother Heidi Starr told Castanet.

She says that the man, who has not been identified, then demanded the youngster provide certification that she was born a female.

“He stopped the entire event. He also pointed at another girl who also had short hair. He then piped in and said, ‘Well, if she is not a boy, then she is obviously trans.’”

Ms Starr told the outlet that the man’s wife then hurled abuse, allegedly calling her “a genital mutilator, a groomer, and a paedophile.”

Banning trans youth from sports has become an increasingly popular right-wing culture war issue, with Republican politicians in the US pushing for state bans.

Central Okanagan School District superintendent Kevin Kaardal told the outlet that they are taking steps to have the man banned from all school events.

“Staff intervened and actually moved the shot-put away from where he was. The gentleman was not a part of our school district. We are taking steps to ensure he is not able to be on our school property or attend events in the future,” he said.

And he added: “Adults need to govern themselves and behave appropriately.”

Kari Starr, the youngster’s other mother, says that the incident has damaged their daughter’s confidence.

“This has destroyed our beautiful daughter’s confidence, and she was inconsolably crying during this whole event and continued once it was over and we were leaving,” she said.

“Not to mention, she was unable to concentrate on her track and field finals and the shot-put throw for which she had qualified.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in