California school district trustee opens up on leading resolution to oppose trans athletes in girls' sports

The largest high school district in California is the latest in the state to pass a resolution calling for the protection of girls' sports from trans athletes, opposing current state law. The resolution, which passed this week, came weeks after a controversial incident involving a girls' volleyball game.

Kern High School District (KHSD) trustee Derek Tisinger told Fox News Digital that he and his colleagues had to witness a Christian school forfeit to one of the schools in its district over a trans athlete last month. 

Bakersfield Christian forfeited its freshman/sophomore game to Ridgeview High School in the final week of September, with the explanation that "As a school grounded in the authority of Scripture, we affirm the biblical view that sex is determined by God at conception."

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For Tisinger and many of his colleagues, witnessing this was difficult. 

"People try to say, 'hey, it only affects a small amount of people,' but there were probably 30 girls that practiced and dreamed their whole life about playing volleyball, and they didn't get to play," Tisinger said. 

"To sit here and talk about this, it's almost ridiculous." 

Tisinger also has sympathy for the trans athlete in his district at the center of the situation. 

"This young man, he has every opportunity to play in any sport, men's sport, he can play golf, tennis, he can do whatever he wants to do, but I don't believe that he has the right to come in and displace a girl on a team and take her playing ability away and possibly taking away a chance for her to get a scholarship down the road," he added.

Tisinger, a former teacher, led the effort to pass the resolution, which was authored by Chino Valley Unified School Board President Sonja Shaw. Tisinger's effort resulted in a 3-2 passing vote, making Kern High School District the 16th institution in California to pass a resolution calling for the change. 

"People in our community and our district know that we are concerned about biological boys playing in girls' sports, and we don't want it to happen," Tisinger added. 

But Tisinger said he and many of his colleagues had to weigh potential backlash, and even legal action if they were to pass it. 

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A group of activist parents and teachers sent a letter to the KHSD suggesting potential legal action if they did not stand by the state's laws to enable biological males in girls' sports. 

"Your district could be at risk for litigation," read a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News Digital. 

"Your role is clear: uphold California Education Code. Ensure that your school athletics programs are not implementing this discriminatory pilot policy locally. The law is on the side of fairness, privacy, and dignity. Let's keep it that way."

But Tisinger also heard the message from the federal government and President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order for schools to only allow females in girls' and women's sports or risk potential loss of federal funding. The U.S. Department of Justice is currently suing California state agencies for refusing to comply with this executive order. 

Tisinger believed this resolution was a way that his district could pick a side in the conflict that he could get behind. 

"We're being threatened to be sued on both sides, so if were going to be sued, let's be on the right side of this," Tisinger said he told his colleagues at the Monday meeting to pass the resolution. 

"The threat of losing federal funding, that's a pretty serious situation, so we don't take that, I don't take that lightly. I don't want to lose federal funding. Our school district, we have around 45,000 students. So for us, it's critical that we have the federal funds to pay our wonderful teachers that we have and take care of our students. So we shouldn't be in a situation where we're being blackmailed one way or the other." 

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