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Originally Posted by MrButtons
I'll happily join you; not with politics and this isnt about the NCAA, just highscool. I always have this ready to go whenever this comes up in sports
I'd encourage y'all to look at this letter the Gov from Utah wrote back in 2022.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022...-ban-veto.html |
Thank you for sharing this as I had not seen it before and it reassured me of a recent difficult decision I made to resign as a Director of the Board of Hockey Alberta effective August 1st.
I do not know if I will be in a position to publicly share my resignation letter, but what I can say is that, in my view, I could not comply with my oath as a lawyer and also comply with the Alberta government's overbroad discriminatory ban of certain kids from playing hockey with other kids with whom they feel they belong.
The final straw for me came when the government announced it would exempt out-of-province athletes from the application of the
Fairness and Safety in Sport Regulation. It seems this was likely necessary (at least in hockey where the national and international governing bodies have inclusive evidence based policies that are incompatible with Alberta's ban) for the government to be sure they could still make truckloads of money from, and have the prestige of hosting, national championships and international events...of which several are already in the queue.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11286379/...ince-athletes/
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...nto-2027-schow
So, in other words, biologically born male kids will still be allowed to play female-only hockey in Alberta (and hurt everyone on the ice and steal all the gold medals with impunity) so long as they don't live here.
Meanwhile, based on claims of protection of sport fairness and safety (but without supporting evidence or data), the government in essence had ordered me by legislation as a PSO Board member to do their dirty work and create and implement policies to ban any such Alberta kids aged 12 and above from playing female hockey. The ban applies regardless of the level of competition and without regard to any assessment of the skills or physical characteristics of the players.
Apparently recognizing most PSOs would have no legitimate purpose to suddenly invent and impose such policies (because this is not a real problem in the vast majority of circumstances), the government built in some state-compelled speech:
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The policies established, implemented and maintained under section 3 of the Act by a board must
(a) state that the purpose of the policies is the promotion of fairness and safety in sport,
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https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/re...-124-2025.html
Because, you know, all the most good faith and honest purposes for doing something that you were never otherwise going to do are the purposes you are legally mandated by the government to claim as your purposes even when they are not.
This is especially so when you contemplate some of the other PSOs that also must ban biologically born male kids for the obvious fairness and safety catastrophes that would otherwise result in female archery, curling, baton twirling, equestrian, horseshoe pitching, and shooting (the full list is included in the regulation at the link above if you want to find some more).
My personal views would likely align with the Utah Governor. I am not an activist for any 'side' of this issue. But to put a fine point on it, you do not need to be an activist to know right from wrong.
And to borrow the words of the Governor, Albertans are now banning "...kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships...kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something...kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live..."