Washington state school superintendent claims it’s ‘inaccurate’ to say there are only two sexes

On Thursday, Washington State’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal claimed it was “inaccurate” that there are only two genders. Reykdal was advocating for boys to continue playing in girls’ sports, which has been banned nationwide under a new executive order from President Donald Trump.

In a clip of the speech that has since gone viral, Reykdal said, “It is quite simply inaccurate to say, biologically, that there are only boys and there are only girls.”

He added, “There’s a continuum. There’s a science to this. There are children who are born intersex. There are children whose hormones and whose chromosomes are not consistent with their sex at birth.”

“That’s not a debate we’re going to have today,” Reykdal continued. “I just want to remind you of our civil rights obligations. Our state laws make clear that children get to identify and participate based on the gender in which they identify. We’re going to uphold that law.”

While criticizing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that prohibits schools from allowing biological men to compete in girls’ sports, Reykdal insisted Trump did not have the authority as president to issue the ban but admitted that Congress does.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act has already passed in the House of Representatives but hasn’t gone to a vote in the Senate yet. Reykdal said, “Until Congress changes the law or our state legislature changes the law, we’re going to follow the current law and the current civil rights framework of this state, and that’s what it tells us to do.”

Currently, Washington’s high school athletes are allowed to compete based on how they identify rather than their biological sex. However, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) is considering a proposal to create a separate open division for transgender athletes.

Last week, a civil rights complaint was filed with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on behalf of a teenage girl in Washington who was allegedly punished for refusing to play a basketball game against a male athlete. According to the complaint, the Tumwater School District in Washington is investigating 15-year-old Frances Staudt for “misgendering” her opponent and violating the district’s policies against bullying and harassment. 

The Department of Education has already launched Title IX investigations into the state high school athletic conferences in California, Maine and Minnesota for their refusal to comply with his executive order.

Last week while speaking at a meeting of the American Governors Association, President Trump said his administration would not be giving federal funding to Maine over the state’s refusal to obey his executive order barring biological males from competing in women’s sports.

Trump confronted Maine Governor Janet Mills, asking her, "Are you not gonna comply" with the executive order?” to which she replied, "I’m complying with state and federal laws."

"Well, we are the federal law," Trump replied, adding, "Well, you better do it, you better do it cause you’re not gonna get any federal at all if you don’t and, by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So, you better comply, because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding."