By Mary Margaret Olohan | The Daily Signal
RANDOLPH, Vt. — Blake Allen and her teammates spoke out when a biologically male student used their locker room. Now these young girls face heavy criticism — and maybe even punishment.
Our Daily Signal team traveled up the coast this week to the town of Randolph in northeastern Vermont, just in time to catch the last few days of the town’s beautiful fall foliage. We wanted to meet these girls, cheerful young ladies who chatted with us over pancakes and coffee. They shared their stories and anxieties from the past few weeks of tension and acknowledged the risks of publicly addressing such a controversial topic.
It’s an issue that not many parents expect their 14-year-old daughters to grapple with, much less address publicly: a biologically male student identifying as a transgender girl, playing on the girls’ volleyball team, and using their locker room.
But in this Vermont school district, school officials cite state law allowing for students to use locker rooms and bathrooms that align with their stated gender identity. These officials say that they care about everyone’s safety and that Randolph Union High School is investigating whether harassment took place when the girls told their biologically male classmate not to come into their locker room while they were changing.
During a well-attended Tuesday evening forum with parents, school Superintendent Layne Millington claimed that coverage of the girls’ pushback has sparked hatred and bigotry toward both the trans-identifying student and the school district. And other parents and students criticized Blake and her family for speaking up on the matter.
Parents who spoke with The Daily Signal said the superintendent and the forum did not focus on the most pressing matter at hand: their daughters’ discomfort at having a biologically male student in the locker room able to observe them while they are changing.
Early on a foggy Wednesday morning, we met up with some of these young ladies at the local bowling alley-turned-diner. Nervous to speak out, but determined to speak her truth, each girl sat down, mic’d up, and offered her own explanation as to why she believes her voice is not being respected.
These girls tell us they bear no ill will toward the trans-identifying student — they just don’t believe a biological male should be in their locker room and they can’t understand why school officials seemingly don’t care about their feelings and their discomfort.
“A male was in our locker room when volleyball girls were trying to get changed,” said Blake. “And after I asked him to leave, he didn’t, and later looked over at girls with their shirts off. And it made many people uncomfortable and feel violated. And I left as soon as I could in a panic.”
“It’s not fully the trans student’s fault,” she added. “It is much more the school board’s fault and they’re failing everyone. Not just the volleyball team, not the transgender student. They did nothing to help this situation. They still aren’t. They just want people to be in trouble and they’re not trying to help make a change.”
A female member of the volleyball team who identified herself as Lilly claimed at Tuesday evening’s forum that none of the girls in the locker room were changing when the trans-identifying student entered the room. Kayla, one of the volleyball players who sat down with us, says that’s simply not true.
“Everyone was at different points of changing,” she explained. “Some girls were already dressed, some girls weren’t dressed at all, some girls were in the middle of changing.”
“So why would someone say that they weren’t?” I asked her.
“I feel like everyone’s just trying to twist the story on us and make us look like the bad people in this situation,” the high school student said.
The trans-identifying student’s guardian, Melissa Sivvy, has insisted to The Daily Signal that her child is a girl, deserves to use the girls’ locker room, and never behaved inappropriately.
Offered a chance to respond to this story, the child’s guardian asked The Daily Signal to explain what “biologically male” means and what the girls meant by saying that they were uncomfortable having her child in their space while they were changing.
“Your child is biologically male, correct?” I asked Sivvy on Wednesday evening.
She responded: “Do you think adults should be thinking about what is under children’s clothing? Seems a little inappropriate to me.”
Parents we spoke with told us that they are outraged that the school district and the high school would allow such an incident to even occur — they don’t want biological boys in their daughters’ locker rooms, and they are bewildered as to why the school system is apparently prioritizing the needs of students who identify as transgender over their daughters. They also strongly pushed back against allegations that speaking up is hateful.
“I want all kids, all kids at RUHS to feel safe, all kids nationwide to feel safe in their spaces where they need to change or are supposed to be private spaces,” Blake’s mother, Jessica Allen, told us. “We have to get creative as a nation to really figure out how to keep everybody safe, and everyone working together. The hate really does need to stop, because that’s not what this is about…let’s have an open dialogue about how to keep everybody safe and feeling comfortable, because we’ve taught children to protect their bodies.”
“I feel it’s not the place for them,” added Eric Messier, Kayla’s father. “My daughter feels uncomfortable … while that other student’s in the locker room.
“All that matters is she’s uncomfortable. It’s pretty simple,” he added, describing his daughter and her friends as “tough, resilient young girls.”
“They need to make a change and make everybody comfortable.”
School officials keep pointing to Vermont state law on the matter, Jessica Allen noted. “But the law, as it reads, has some room for creativity,” she said. “So let’s get creative and let’s make that happen so everyone does feel safe.”
Blake tells us that she is not only failing to get support from the school — she’s also facing punishment. Emails viewed by The Daily Signal show that school officials are investigating her for “harassing someone based on their gender” and have launched an investigation into this allegation following a “Hazing, Harassment, and Bullying” process.
School officials would not comment specifically on these allegations against Blake. Co-Principal Lisa Floyd told The Daily Signal: “Student safety is our District’s highest priority. We always do our best to maintain a supportive learning environment for all of our students.”
“The District has policies and procedures to respond to student harassment based on protected characteristics or other misconduct,” she added. “We are not able to discuss any specific students because of federal privacy laws. However, when we become aware that there has been a violation of our policies, including harassment of other students, we respond immediately. Where the policies and expectations are violated, we take disciplinary action consistent with the law and reasonably calculated to prevent further misconduct. We also do our best to give victims supportive measures.”
Blake says she does not regret speaking out.
“I’m glad I spoke out because there’s still so much that could be done, that the law could be changed, because now it’s national news,” she told me. When it comes to the trans-identifying student, “He had the right to go in, but once we said we were uncomfortable, he should have just left. It should have been that simple.”
“I don’t want other girls to have to feel uncomfortable about it,” the high school student added. “I think everyone should be able to just get changed in a locker room that they were born as. If you were born a girl, you can go in the girls’ locker room, get out when you’re done. It should be simple and it’s not anymore.”
Kayla said she’s heard a lot of people saying that school officials are treating the trans-identifying student as if that student has more rights than the girls.
“That’s a good way to put it,” she said. “They care more about that one single student than the rest of the girls. So they’re telling us all to go get changed in the single stalls instead of the locker room. And the trans person can have the locker room while all of us go into different places.”
“I feel like the team’s really brave about doing this because we all knew what was going to happen if we did, the consequences. If one of us were to get a scholarship, they could find this on the internet and take it away,” she added. “And so there’s many consequences to doing it, but I think it’s really important that we’re doing it.”
“Is it hatred and bigotry to say that you don’t want a biological male in your bathroom or locker room?” I asked most of the girls.
“Nope,” says Grace, a senior at Randolph Union High School.
“Not at all,” Blake tells me.
“No,” says Blake’s mother. “It’s about their comfort and their feelings.”
“It’s also a fact,” adds Grace, “because they are a biological male and it’s not hatred. It’s just we want to feel comfortable.”
“Talk about women’s rights,” the student added, “we should have the right to go to the bathroom without a male in our bathroom.”
Vermont used to be the most beautiful state. USED TO BE.
I salute TrueNorthReports for giving Vermonters—and those who really do love and care about Vermont—a “true” voice. The “other” Vermont news outlet is utterly corrupted, co-opted, and hijacked by extreme liberal bias. I don’t waste my time anymore reading that one-sided song sheet.
This article bears witness to what has happened to Vermont. It is not the fault of 14-year-old girls who don’t want to be seen in their panties in front of a male schoolmate. No, totally normal and understandable. This is the FAULT OF VERMONT VOTERS who have elected and empowered quite abnormal egomaniacal politicians who have stolen their state. It starts in the small villages and towns. It encompasses the bigger cities and regions. The liberal mindset isn’t what it used to be. It now has dementia and fading fast. Are you going to go that route? Think about it in the booth next month.
The woke progressives at WCAX and other Vermont media outlets can’t stand their agenda being challenged and won’t cover this unfolding issue. They must be naive to believe that if they don’t cover it the story goes away. They must not be aware of YouTube.
Thinking that you’re a different sex rather than what your DNA determines is a mental health issue and should be treated as such. It would be a pretty twisted situation if a trans boy to girl starts to get an erection while watching the girls change. That possibility should weigh on the minds of all parents.
The reason these innocent, all-American children are uncomfortable in bathrooms, is because their parents likely voted these Dem/Prog socialist leftists into office.
This will only end if Vermont voters turn out, en masse, IN PERSON, at the voting station to vote these leftists out for good.
DO NOT USE YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT.
BE A POLL WORKER VOLUNTEER
Remember when people wanted to move to Vermont to start families and raise their children? Now, many moved here to destroy families, corrupt the minds of children, and abuse them at will. I pray for these young women and all children in Vermont. May they be resilient and resistent to the scourge of evil perpetrating their lives and well being. I pray for the parents to have courage and fortitude to fight the evil stalking their children. I pray for communities to stand up, defend and protect children, as well as our elders, from the vicious, malicious abuse and callousness perpetrated upon them. God help us and place a hedge of protection around these young women and their peers.
Why these girls are uncomfortable having a biological male in their locker room should not have to be explained.
Thank you, Tamituna.
How crazy the world has gotten that girls have to explain why they are uncomfortable with a boy in the locker room. The adults should not even be putting the girls in such a position!
You go girls, good job sticking up for “Womens Rights” which the prog commies have thrown in the dumpster.. Finally the policy of promoting Gender mental illness and
government support of it is getting National exposure…Vermont prog commies leading
the state over the cliff..
When I was a kid we always wondered how to game the system to get a peek in the ladies locker room.
Now it’s endorsed by the system. Great days ahead!
This is exactly what I was thinking. Once my juices started flowing the only thing I could think of was how to keep them flowing. This a great scam.
Until the Vermont Legislature hammers out the proper rules and regulations all school bathrooms should be made available to both male and female, students or faculty regardless as to whether they are occupied or not. That should speed up the superintendents’ decisions.
Although Gender dysphoria afflicts a very small percentage of the population it is nevertheless real and compassion and understanding is due to those suffering that mental or physical condition.
However, self-identifying as something that you are not doesn’t make you that which you believe you are. I can identify as a dog but the Westminster Dog Show would never accept me.
So the compromise in this case can be the following: Separate sports teams for biological females, biological males, transgender females and transgender males. Or, schools can completely end all scholastic sports teams to be replaced by two large school-wide intramural co-ed teams. More students could then compete in a variety of intra-mural sports and not just the few starters on all the scholastic sports teams.
Due to the generally accepted inherent attributes of added weight, size and strength, a biological male should only be allowed to compete against biological males in athletic sports. A biological female should only compete against biological females in athletic sports. If there is a non-athletic sport, like being on the chess team, nobody cares and it’s open to all sexes.
The provisions of Title 9 legislation protecting women’s sports must not be diluted by this issue, which is primarily occupied by males crossing over into women’s sports rather than the reverse.
Laws allowing transgenders crossing over into the “opposite” sex bathrooms do not take into account the ageless inherited warnings we all have of self-protection, not self-identification, whether real or imagined. The parents’ duty is to protect their children. A superintendent’s duty is to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for all within acceptable limitations.
When Vermont provides Paid School Choice this will quickly cease to be a problem as parents will have the opportunity to steer clear of the monopoly run public school system and choose the education they feel best meets their needs and those of their kids.
I submit that most young people aren’t experienced or self-aware enough to separate growing-up-dysphoria from gender dysphoria. These kids are being groomed, however, to support the financial interests of the psychologists and surgeons and academics who have a stake in promoting gender dysphoria.
There’s also this weird woke-ness going around such that we actively promote identity fluidity so long as it involves outward expression. The minute we think things that go against what NPR says, however, then we’re nuts and need to be corrected: no deviance allowed there.
Jim1
Hello. My name is Jim. I’m 14 years old.
I self-identify as a genius, and as such, I expect not to have to take any exams and to pass all my subjects with straight A’s.
If anyone asks me to prove this, that would be very hurtful and infringing on my rights. Don’t I have the right to self-identify? No one is asking these transgender youths to prove anything; they merely have to state the fact and presto! They are what they say they are and others are expected to accept this. Therefore, I am who I say I am, and I expect others to respect that perception.
Just as youths who identify as the opposite sex and don’t have to prove anything, why should I have to prove anything? Why should I be excluded and be hurt by other’s denials of who I am?
I expect to go to college and not attend classes and get straight A’s. I’m a brilliant genius, like the world has never seen; this is how I see myself and I have every right to be who I say I am. I expect scholarships. I don’t expect any hurtful questioning of my self-identity or any disrespect of my honestly-held convictions about myself.
Thank you, transgender youths of America, for showing me the way. Now we have to ensure that laws are passed that punish those who question our self-perceptions so that those of us who perceive outside-the-box aren’t marginalized and hurt by the denials of the ignorant.
Those who came before me truly showed us all who the ignorant and hateful are, who the deniers are. Let’s not let those hateful and prejudiced people stop us from being who we really are.
Thank you.
Signed, Unimaginable Genius Like the World Has Never Seen
Pronouns: Godlike, Superlative Uber-transgender
Jim, you actually are a genius for having spawned this “self-proclaimed self-identity” notion. What a revolutionary idea! I salute you, genius!
As I see it, These Young Women have a Valid point. They are taught To protect their bodies. what will Happen if The trans person should make a move on one ? Who will accept the Blame? The school board NOT, they will Hide behind State law and deny ANY responsibility in the matter. VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
Why should these young women have to explain anything, the ones that should be explaining
are the Randolph school officials, and school board and they should all resign.
We already know this sicko has mental issues, so who knows what his intentions were while
watching these young ladies changing………… maybe he is just a pervert !!
We have two genders and only two genders, if this liberal schools system wants to allow this
” he/she ” then they should have made accommodations for this ” special person “………..
A complete apology is due to these young ladies from the School officials and the school
board for putting these girls through this nonsense, if you want ” woke ” do it at home !!!
Let’s save Vermont, vote in November, and start removing the ” Cancer ” we have with our
elected officials
Agreed. The whole girl’s team should resign or kick this pervert in the nuts. Stand your ground.
They should have kicked this pervert in the nuts, if he has any.
These girls are correct in their thinking and in their actions, the ones who are NOT correct are the administration and Superintendant’s Cadre. Stay the course girls, and if there is trouble coming your way from these moron leaders, let me know and we will help you over this hurdle, which should not be there in the first place.
I believe the positive support is truly on your side.
If you want to be accepted as a female at least have the surgery. If you won’t go that far then your commitment is not convincing at all.
“Your child is biologically male, correct?” I asked Sivvy on Wednesday evening.
She responded: “Do you think adults should be thinking about what is under children’s clothing? Seems a little inappropriate to me.”
Isn’t that the whole issue?
When they are in a locker room not wearing clothing there is not any clothing to be under, and that is the issue. Whether persons having the advantage of a male physique should be competing with females on the playing field is another matter, also worthy of address. Let them dress, act as they please; protect their rights. But males should share facilities with males: Biological identification.
This is an attack on all social norms by a Marxian ideology that is using marginalized populations as a tool to great societal discourse. These people reject classical liberalism, empirical science, capitalism and America. They believe they are liberating people from the confines of the current social construct to create a new socialist society. They also want to end white privilege. Childhood Innocence is considered a form of white privilege, so social justice demands that children are exposed to things like this as well as drag queen events to destroy innocene. They are groomers!
I can’t believe we’re even discussing this.
As a biological female my whole life, I can cite at least one incident a decade that was a boundary issue incurred by a biological male that left me second guessing myself and my choices, that patronized me in response to a complaint, and cost me jobs in at least two instances.
To complain is to put oneself on the firing line – blaming the victim. And the cost is highest for the victim, and is lifelong.
Still extant – by law – today in good ole Chinarmont.
We never turn over the pedophilia rock so we can’t see how insidious this culture is and has been in this state, now protected by law.
Until we get right with God, this will continue.
This is simply ungodly on the part of state and local authority.
They are not covering certain topics….you are so correct.
At the same time they are promoting interfamilial sex…..while it’s not incest to have sex with your step son, it could make for difficult family dynamics to say the least.
They are reducing sex to the act of service, just like a waiter getting water for their dining customer.
We are the tip of the spear, but make no mistake this is a country wide effort. We promote drag queen story hour and homosexuality….for grade school. Perhaps we should have play boy and penthouse magazines in the elementary schools?
Perhaps we can elevate ourselves out of the gutter following a different path, a narrow path… whose fruit include Love, Hope and Joy…
Not real popular today, because with know “everything” we couldn’t possibly be wrong with any of our ideas, lusts or desires.
No “penis person” should ever be in the “vagina persons” space while in a changing and showering room and Vice Versa. Especially in a High School – puberty Lust just reaching peak!
Simple and historic, realistic.
Just why is that so hard to understand?
Mebbe some people cannot handle reality.
In the past they were declared demented or insane.
Unfortunately a few years from now this will be considered “normal” and the next level will have begun to be debated, which is barnyard sex.
But don’t be alarmed, by that time we will all be reduced to nuclear ash.
The planet, you see, is self regulating.
Morality, decency, or integrity…does not exist in Progessives or Democrats. Here’s their next step, reported today…. criminally prosecute parents who don’t adhere to the facist Progressive cult orthodxy:
“Virginia Democrat Bill Would Criminally Prosecute Parents Who Don’t Affirm Their Kids As Transgender….Previous attempt at the bill was co-sponsored by a senator who served jail time for having sex with a teenager.”
Ya’ can’t make this stuff up 🙂