Exclusive: Taylor Starling, a high school cross country runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, lost her spot on the varsity team earlier this season to a transgender student.
numerous Parents of students Martin Luther King told Fox News Digital that the school allowed the trans athlete to compete on the varsity cross country team despite missing practices for academic reasons. Those parents include Starling's father, longtime firefighter Ryan Starling, and construction contractor Dan Slavin, the father of Kaitlyn, another runner on the team.
“The fact that a male athlete was able to compete while attending less than 25% of practices is not fair. In what era, on what team, in what sport can you barely show up for practice and still compete?” Dan Slavin told Fox News Digital. “It's not fair, and it's not right for those who work hard every day throughout the entire season.”
Both families are currently involved in a lawsuit against the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD).
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Ryan Starling told Fox News Digital that losing his daughter's college spot emotionally disrupted his entire family, where a cross-country trip played a pivotal role in her life. Then when his daughter and other girls on the team confronted their school administrators about it, he claimed they were told that “trans people have more rights than cisgender people.”
“It's been said multiple times not only to Taylor, but to her sister,” Ryan Starling said, adding that Taylor is one of three triplets, all of whom are active on college sports teams. “All of the officials at Martin Luther King Jr. made that comment, and the Title IX coordinator for the Riverside Unified School District said that as a cisgender girl, they don't have the same rights as a transgender girl,” she said. “For many girls, not just our girls, but many Of the girls on campus.”
A RUSD spokesperson declined to make an official comment on Ryan Starling's allegations in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
RUSD previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital insisting its handling of the situation was consistent with California law.
“Although these rules were not created by RUSD, the district is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California law prohibits discrimination among students on the basis of sex, gender identity, and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in school,” the statement said. “The protection we offer to all students is not only consistent with the law but also with our core values of equality and wellbeing.”
In California, a law has been passed A B 1266 The law has been in effect since 2014, and gives California students at both the school and college levels the right to “participate in gender-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, regardless of sex.” included in the student’s records.”
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California Code of Regulations Section 4910(k) defines sex as: “a person’s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person’s identity, appearance, or behavior, whether that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that conventionally associated with a person.” A person's sex at birth.”
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Bylaw No. 300.d. It reflects the Education Code, which states: “All students shall have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the sex listed on the student’s records.”
RUSD also placed blame for its handling of the situation on officials in Washington, D.C., and the California state capital, Sacramento.
“While these matters play out in our courts and in our media, dissent and protests must be directed at those who are in a position to influence those laws and policies (including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento),” their statement read.
But Starling, Slavin, other students and their families were willing to do much more than just send a letter to local legislators.
Taylor and Kaitlyn sparked a viral trend in their communities when they showed up to school last November wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts. Martin Luther King Jr. principals allegedly confronted the girls about the shirts, comparing them to swastikas, according to the lawsuit filed against the district.
After that, more and more students started showing up every week wearing the shirts, so the school had to change its dress code and start detaining students for wearing these shirts. This did not stop the T-shirts from spreading and growing. It has become a weekly ritual for hundreds of students every Wednesday to show up wearing T-shirts supporting the girls and their messages, and many of them have posted widely on social media.
In early December, school principals give up For their efforts to discipline students for wearing T-shirts. Sources told Fox News Digital that more than 400 students showed up wearing the shirts at one time, and students at other schools in the area have begun wearing them to class.
While this was happening, Taylor was also taking steps to regain her college spot, according to her father. Ryan Starling says it was a “transformational” experience and motivated her athletically and academically. She has since regained her place back on the university team, and her father says she beat the transgender athlete in the last competition by more than three seconds.
“She had a lot of support from her friends, her friends were all wearing the shirts,” he said.
The Starling family has not only received positive attention, Ryan Starling says, there have been many negative and even threatening messages. The family had to postpone their recent family vacation to accommodate Taylor's safety on a trip to the state competition, as her parents didn't feel comfortable letting her travel alone.
“There were some negative things online, there were some threats of violence toward our girls, there were different things, and we didn't feel comfortable leaving Taylor for a day and a half and having her fly out a day later so she could do that.” “We ran at state, so we chose to stay together as a family and support Taylor, and then we pushed our vacation back to the first of the year,” Ryan Starling said.
The situation reached a potential turning point during a five-hour RUSD school board meeting on Dec. 19. Outside the office, there were competing protests between activists, parents wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts, and LGBTQ community activists.
The sources have He told Fox News Digital That LGBTQ activists at the event were harassing protesters on the other side, and even disrupted a women's prayer group during a prayer circle before the meeting.
Then inside the meeting, parents and opposition activists gave impassioned speeches about their thoughts on the situation, with several speakers screaming in hysterical tones. But Ryan Starling, who stayed throughout the meeting, was given a glimmer of hope at the end of the meeting. He says that after it was over, a newly appointed board member spoke with the girls who were there to protest the trans athlete, and that the new board member suggested their issue would be resolved once President-elect Trump takes office in January. 20.
“Don't worry girls, we've got your back, just wait until January 20,” new board member Ryan Starling said.
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Supporters of transgender athletes hold signs as a large crowd gathers outside a Riverside Unified School District meeting Thursday night to discuss the rights of transgender athletes to compete in high school sports, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Chapin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Trump has pledged to ban transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports, and the new Republican-controlled Congress has signaled its intention to do so as well.
the house rules eviction The 119th Congress went live this week, and the first step in its order of business is a bill that would trigger revisions to Title IX that would only allow athletes to compete in the sex category they were assigned at birth.
However, California Governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to resist the incoming Trump administration.
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