Women’s basketball players at Columbia Bible College (CBC) in British Columbia, Canada, have signed a letter in response to an opposing team refusing to play games against CBC due to alleged abuse against a transgender player.
Vancouver Island University (VIU) announced Thursday that it will not play its two games against CBC this weekend following an incident during the last meeting between the two teams in October, alleging that a CBC coach had treated the trans athlete in a way that violated the coach’s rules. Code of ethics. VIU asked its conference, the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST), not to penalize its team for not playing games due to the nature of the situation.
VIU transgender player Harriette Mackenzie has made public statements alleging that CBC coaches and players behaved in an abusive manner.
The CBC players’ letter, obtained by PK Press Club Digital, condemns the VIU team for “personal attacks,” “defamatory comments” and even “comments inciting violence” against their coach.
“Videos and letters posted by members of the VIU women’s basketball team over the past three months directly violated several rules set forth in Section 17.2 of the handbook. Various messages included ‘personal attacks,’ ‘defamatory comments’, ‘lack of respect towards PACWEST’, and gave rise to ‘comments inciting violence and/or hatred’ directed against our coach”, we can read in the letter.
“Any allegations made by VIU players regarding our team and coach should have been directly communicated only to PACWEST officials, they should not have been publicly posted on social media.”
The letter even called the VIU players’ statements “disinformation.”
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“The attack on Coach Claggett’s character and the character of our team over the past three months is based on false information and one aspect of a complicated storyline,” it read.
Mackenzie posted a video on the athlete’s Instagram page on Oct. 30, alleging that Columbia Bible head coach Taylor Clagett “cornered one of our athletes and went on a tirade about how I shouldn’t be allowed to play.
Mackenzie said she was also deliberately knocked to the ground by a Columbia Bible player.
“I was knocked to the ground with both hands by number 13 with no ball play in sight and then head coach Clagett can be seen clapping in support,” the trans athlete said.
Mackenzie helped the Mariners win the 2022-23 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national championship. This season, the athlete is second in PACWEST in scoring with 16.1 points per game and third in rebounding with 9.4 per game, while VIU is 11-1 in the conference. Mackenzie is also second in the conference in shooting percentage at 49.7%.
“I believe all trans people should be included in sports. But this makes me particularly infuriating, because I play – and I’m forced to play – at a major biological disadvantage,” Mackenzie said in the video. “I’ve never had male puberty. I’ve only had female puberty. And I don’t have ovaries, I don’t have testes, so I have no way of producing testosterone.”
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The CBC players’ letters also claim that the VIU team violated standard procedure for canceling games and that PACWEST failed to hold VIU to proper standards.
“In the past, when a team refused to participate and travel to a scheduled match, they received 0 points in the standings. By postponing matches this weekend, PACWEST contravened standard operating procedure. No clear justification was not provided to our team to justify this departure from normal procedures,” the letter reads.
“Additionally, Article 13, Section 9.1.1 states that if a team cannot participate in a scheduled game, the coach or athletic director must contact the opposing athletic director to ‘state the reason for their inability to meet its intended commitment’. To our knowledge, this requirement has not been met.
The CBC actors, who have remained silent until now, believe they are no longer capable of doing so.
“So far, we have remained silent. We have shown respect to PacWest and VIU over the past few months by staying off social media and expressing our concerns through official channels. The women’s team of VIU basketball did not share this same respect for PacWest or CBC and communicated primarily on social media,” the letter read.
“Their behavior was rewarded by the way their refusal to play this weekend was handled. We are writing this letter to ensure that our voices are heard in this conversation and that the respect we have shown throughout this process should not be confused with passivity.
“They want our side of the story told,” CBC head coach Taylor Claggett told PK Press Club Digital.
Since June 2017, across Canada, the Canadian Human Rights Act, equal opportunity and/or anti-discrimination legislation explicitly prohibit discrimination against gender identity or expression of gender. gender identity. This law protects the inclusion of all trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
In the United States, President-elect Trump has pledged to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and women’s sports. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that Canada join the United States, potentially as the 51st state.
