14 DAY TRIAL // A 12-year-old girl has been booted off the football team for being of the wrong gender, reports say.
Makhaela Jenkins is not allowed to play on her school's team in Baltimore, Ohio, as the institution can choose not to allow girls to play contact sports.
Superintendent Paul Matthews explains that every district has the option of banning girls from contact sports.
“It is a choice our district has the option to make and that is the choice we have decided to make,” he said.
“We are not violating Title Nine. [...] We have opportunities for girls, but those opportunities do not include contact sports,” Matthews explains.
Girls enrolled in the Liberty Union-Thurston School District can play neither football nor wrestling.
“We think we have plenty of places for everyone to fit in, but it is simply a choice,” Matthews argues for WCPO.
The seventh grader got into the team and she was offered a roster spot and a locker. However, Matthews alerted the coach about the fact that she would have to be knocked off the team.
“It sets me apart from everyone else and it lets everyone know it is OK to be different and you don't have to follow what everyone else does,” Makhaela says.
She is an advocate for equal opportunities to play sports among genders.
“Some people have different goals and dreams they want to follow, and if they want to play a sport, [they] should be able to play a sport no matter what gender you are,” Makhaela notes.
The Equity Resource Center has stressed that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bans public schools from discrimination.
“No person in the United States shall [...] be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance..,” it reads.