Donna Mears
Updated: 1 day ago Published: 1 day ago
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When I was raising my kids, they played a lot of sports. In conversations with other parents, we often refer to these activities collectively as “sportsball.” It's not that I didn't know or care what specific practice they were in, but it never mattered what uniform they wore or the outcome of the game. What's important in children's sports is not the final score, but the time children spend together, the friends they make, and the skills of teamwork, independence, and discipline they develop through training and competition.
While this Legislature did a good job of primarily focusing on issues that affect all Alaskans, such as education, budget, and energy, several bills targeting transgender children in schools There is a risk of derailing the agenda. One is aimed at excluding transgender children from playing sports in public schools, depriving them of the opportunity to learn, grow and play with their friends. My children's teams have championed inclusion, sportsmanship, and participation, not exclusion. That's why it's so harmful that some lawmakers go to great lengths to try to deny this basic opportunity to a small number of children.
Other bills aim to intimidate doctors from providing needed care to transgender children and prevent school teachers from recognizing transgender children's identities. Taken together, these proposals would send a clear and bigoted message to transgender people and their families: You are not welcome here.
Let me be clear. This isn't about transgender kids playing sports. It's about justifying hatred against them and obscuring the real needs of children. Every morning, Alaska's children show up to crumbling schools, packed classrooms, and teachers leaving their classrooms. The problem our children face is that our schools are desperately underfunded, meaning they are not receiving the quality education guaranteed by the Alaska Constitution. It's not about a transgender kid potentially playing basketball.
Congresswoman Donna Mears represents South Muldoon, District 21, in the Alaska State House of Representatives.
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