The MA Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) is failing our daughters.
As the governing body that makes the rules for school sports in Massachusetts, the MIAA should be focused on maintaining fairness and safety within sports. Instead, they have doubled down on transgender ideology.
Every year in Massachusetts, female student-athletes are subjected to unfair and unsafe playing environments because they are forced to compete against male athletes. The MIAA Rulebook currently requires that if there is no equivalent boys team in a sport, male athletes must be allowed to play on the girls team, with no exceptions. It also requires that males who identify as female be allowed to compete on the girls team. In these cases, biological females are put at an unnecessary and increased risk of injury.
Common sense tells us that girls should compete with other girls, yet the MIAA seems determined to prioritize ideology over the health of their female student-athletes.
Massachusetts is the only state to have such radical rules.
Many girls have been deeply affected by these unfair rules. Some have been displaced from teams or forced to play against teams with unfair advantages. But most shocking are the horrific injuries that many girls have experienced as a result of playing against biological males.
In November of 2023, a female Dighton-Rehoboth field hockey player was sent to the hospital after a male Swampscott player’s shot hit her in the face. Her screams can be heard in the video, while many of her teammates can be seen becoming ill at the sight of her injury.
In February of 2024, Lowell Collegiate Charter School’s female basketball team forfeited their game at halftime after multiple girls were injured by a biological male on KIPP Academy’s team. This male player is reported to be over six feet tall, and the injuries depicted in video footage demonstrate that his height was used to his advantage.
Further research revealed that this individual not only played on KIPP’s female basketball team but also on their female track and female volleyball teams.
Though this footage caused a national uproar, the MIAA once again refused to change its policies.
One displaced girl was too many. One stolen championship was too many. One injured girl was too many. Change is long overdue.
While MA law does limit the actions the MIAA can take, it can work around legal hurdles to implement reasonable restrictions that ensure fairness and safety for female student-athletes. We are asking that the MIAA amend its rules to adopt the following standard, used by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association:
If there is no equivalent boys team in a sport, a boy may play on a girls team, but only if:
It’s time for the MIAA to do what is right. It’s time they protect girls sports. MFI has put together a petition that demands that they do just that. Make your voice heard by signing it today!
Once you have signed the petition, please share it with your family, friends, and on your social media platforms. We can not allow the MIAA to remain silent on this issue any longer.
