For Kelsey Gellner, a Seattle-based pediatric nurse, a statewide proposal to bar trans girls from sports participation feels like a violation of her duty as a medical professional. The ballot initiative includes a requirement she calls “invasive and extreme”: all students who wish to compete on girls’ teams would have to undergo genital exams.
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Gellner said a genital exam was wholly different from a sports physical, which is used to determine metrics like vision and heart health and, crucially, doesn’t require a student to remove her clothing. She added that any policy that puts girls through intrusive medical procedures “opens up a can of worms” given the horrific crimes of Larry Nassar, an ex-USA Gymnastics doctor who was convicted in 2023 of sexually abusing girls for decades.
“While I believe that a vast majority of people who enter the medical profession do it for the right reason, writing legislation that opens the door to predators is just not responsible,” Gellner said.
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Do sports physicals not require that anymore? Every year I played sports middle through high school you had to drop trow during your required annual physical. This was 90’s - 2000’s.
I realize this is specifically about treating trans people horribly, but I’m still curious for anyone who recently played school sports in the US.
The closest thing would be a hernia check for boys, which is generally considered optional. There is no corresponding check for girls. They may be asked if they are menstruating, and if it is regular. That’s about it. And none of that information would be communicated to the school. It’s just for their medical history. There is no part of the form where the doctor is required to verify the existence or nature of someone’s sex organs.
I’d also like to point out that the initiative provides no source of additional funding to cover the processing and keeping of records it will force schools to gather. Consider that girls sports already gets significantly less funding than boys sports. This will widen that gap considerably.
Wait, what‽ seriously you had full body physicals for high school sports?
Every school had it in the 1990’s. It was to relieve the school of liability if something happened while you played sports.
Yeah, anyone who wanted to play had to
Holy shit that’s messed up, I didnt play competitive intramural, but I’ve never needed a dr to look me over for any particular sport I’ve done outside of school either.
Yeah, one of the many reasons I was never interested, another was our mascot.
That’s how they do sports!
…in PRISON
It’s an older reference, sir, but it checks out.
I entered high school in 2009. The only exam they required of athletes was a concussion baseline. I might have needed to get a note from my pedestrian.
Back in grade school, we had vision, ear, and the occasional lice exam.