A 15-year-old girls’ basketball player is being investigated for harassment and bullying after allegedly misgendering a male player on an opposing girls’ team and refusing to play against the transgender athlete. 

In other words, a teenage girl not wanting to take the floor against a biological male is considered to be in the wrong instead of the other way around, at least in the state of Washington where biological sex does not matter.

According to a complaint from the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism against the Tumwater school district, Frances Staudt of Tumwater High School noticed during warmups ahead of her team’s game against Shelton High School that the opposition had a biological male on its roster.

Both the principal and athletic director of Tumwater confirmed that Shelton had a biological male on the team, but with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association allowing students to “play on the team that aligns with their gender identity,” there was nothing they could do.

Come to find out, based on allegations made by Staudt’s’ family, Tumwater principal Zach Suderman essentially stood up for the opposing team’s male player instead of the concerned female player on his own school’s team.

Staudt requested the biological male to be removed from the game or stop it entirely, but Tumwater officials refused to do either at the risk of “discrimination” against the male player.

Staudt then made the decision not to play in the game and was “distraught by the threat she perceived to her teammates’ safety” having to play against a male. 

Instead of taking the side of a concerned Staudt, a girl wanting to play girls’ high school basketball against females, the Tumwater School District opened an investigation into her for “harassing” the biological male.

According to the complaint, the Staudt family alleged that principal Suderman approached Frances’ mother and asked, “Are you telling me that your daughter will never get knocked down or potentially injured by someone bigger, stronger and faster than she is while playing sports?”

The principal realized that the biological male on the other side was bigger, stronger, and faster, and took no issue with that fact based on the allegation.

The family also claimed that an employee of the school intimidated Frances’ brother for taking a video of the game saying “you better think twice” about doing so.

Frances recently joined Brandi Krus on the ‘UnDivided’ podcast to tell her story, and explained that school officials demanded that she take down an Instagram post she made calling out the ridiculousness of the situation.

The father of the male player also allegedly sent Frances’ mother a number of text messages threatening to come to their home if she did not respond.

On top of alleged threats from the male player’s family and zero support from her school’s principal, the local teacher’s union, the Tumwater Education Association, reportedly reacted to the situation on Facebook by showing support for trans athletes in sports instead of showing any support for Staudt, the biological female in the situation.

In a since-deleted post, the teacher’s union wrote “Dear trans kids, the world is better with you in it and you are worth fighting for” and “we are recognizing our students as they already exist in the world,” among other absurd comments.

The male player was later identified as Shelton High School senior Andi Rooks, and both Rooks and their father joined ‘UnDivided’ to be interviewed as well, to their credit.

Rooks explained that the idea of “transitioning” came from his mother around second grade, while his father said he “wasn’t in a position to question anything” about the decision.

Rooks also claimed that they would have gladly sat out the game against Tumwater, but claimed principal Suderman nor any other Tumwater officials didn’t express Staudt’s concerns. 

If this is, in fact, the case, the biggest cowards in this situation are Tumwater’s principal and his fellow school officials. Staudt was already fighting against the state’s system that allows biological males to compete in girls’ sports, but she didn’t even have someone who is paid to have her best interests in mind willing to voice her concerns.