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A Vermont high school student who was suspended for complaining about a transgender student using the girls’ locker room has blasted administrators for prioritizing ‘gender identity policy’ over the ‘safety and privacy of girls’.
Blake Allen, 14, was suspended from Randolph Union High School and her father Travis Allen was fired without pay from his job as the girls’ soccer coach for calling the transgender girl ‘a male.’
In response, they sued the Orange Southwest School District Board, the Superintendent and two co-Principals of the school in Vermont District Court.
Vermont’s state law means that students can play sports and use the locker which correspond to the gender with which they identify.
In an essay for Fox News, Blake says she was made to feel unsafe and uncomfortable after the student was allowed to compete in the girls’ volleyball team and change in their locker room with them.
The first time the trans student entered the locker room, many of the girls were in their underwear and asked the teammate to leave but were ignored, she said.
Blake Allen, 14, was suspended from Randolph Union High School after she called a biologically male student, who identifies as a female, a ‘dude’ (pictured: Blake and her father Travis)
Co-Principals Caty Sutton and Lisa Floyd were both named in the Allen family’s lawsuit against the school in Vermont
Later, the teenager said she was overheard discussing with friends in French class that a ‘dude’ does not belong in their locker room.
The transgender student was not in the class at the time.
The pupil who overheard the comments reported them to the co-principals who launched an investigation.
Blake said: ‘At school, apparently there’s no problem with a male student freely watching us girls change our clothes.’
The freshman spoke with her parents about her concerns sharing the locker room and they and other parents spoke to school administrators to discuss the issue.
But Blake said: ‘Not only did school officials make no attempt to provide us with any support or a workable solution, they made me the bad guy for saying that a teenage male shouldn’t be allowed to watch us girls undress.’
Vermont laws stipulate that transgender students – such as those at Randolph High, pictured, can use whichever facilities align with their gender identity
She went on to say that young girls are now being taught that they should not speak out if they feel unsafe.
She said: ‘If you don’t comply with the school’s preferred gender identity policy, you’re the bad guy.
‘For expressing true, commonsense, biological facts — boys and girls are different and must respect each other’s bodily privacy — I was punished.’
The school then found Blake was guilty of ‘harassment and bullying’ and ordered her to take part in a ‘restorative justice circle’ with an equity coordinator, write a ‘reflective essay,’ and serve a suspension.
Her father Travis was also suspended from his soccer coaching job at the school after a Facebook post.
He said: ‘The truth is your son watched my daughter and multiple other girls change in the locker room. While he got a free show they got violated.’
The lawsuit alleged that Layne Millington, Superintendent, breached Blake and Travis’ First Amendment rights
Meanwhile, the mother of the transgender pupil had commented on a Facebook post saying that Blake had ‘made up the story for attention’ before adding that ‘the truth will prevail’.
In response to the suspensions, Blake and Travis sued co-principals Caty Sutton and Lisa Floyd.
The lawsuit alleged that Layne Millington, Superintendent, and the two co-principals, violated Blake and her father’s First Amendment rights by attempting to dictate ‘what may be said on matters of public concern.’
It also claims that the school turned a blind eye to ‘death threats’ made against Blake by the transgender student, who allegedly said after the locker room incident ‘I’m going to f***ing kill Blake Allen’.
The student, who has been playing on the female volleyball team since the start of the year, allegedly came into the locker rooms and ‘stared’ at some of the girls getting changed
Several parents complained about the transgender student being allowed into the female changing room
She says on the same day the suit was filed, the school rescinded its punishment.
Blake added: ‘Instead of sticking up for the safety and privacy of girls, the school administrators are sticking to their preferred view of gender identity and will unfairly target anyone who dares to think differently.’
The conflict drew the attention of transgender former Olympian Caitlin Jenner, who tweeted ‘Shame on Vermont!’ for allowing ‘biological boys with penises changing next to our daughters in locker rooms, and then have our daughters scolded by the school.’
It is not the first scandal the school have faced, after former co-principal David Barnett was sentenced last year for grooming and molesting a 16-year-old girl.
Barnett was banned from working as an educator, and jailed for a month, after pleading no contest to grooming the girl while he worked as her headteacher.
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