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.”
