Trans-Identifying HS Volleyball Player Sends Illinois Community Into Uproar

A trans-identifying biological male at James B. Conant High School in Illinois, who reportedly stands 6-foot-4, made the freshman girls volleyball team despite never having previously played the sport, OutKick has learned. 

According to a parent of one of the freshman girls, who spoke to OutKick on the condition of anonymity, around 70 girls tried out for the team and only 23 made it – along with the male to complete the 24-player roster. 

In addition, the longtime girls' volleyball coach allegedly resigned her position after being forced to allow the male – who is also allegedly using the girls' bathroom and locker room facilities, according to parents – on the girls' team. 

OutKick reached out to the school's athletics department and principal. 

UPDATE: After this story was published, OutKick received a statement from a District 211 spokesperson. 

On Wednesday night, August 20, the Township High School District 211 school board – which oversees Conant, a school located in the Chicago suburbs – held a special meeting and allowed members of the public to speak. Chaos ensued. 

Parents beg school board to take action

Over the course of an hour, 16 people spoke at the meeting. Some were in opposition to a male on the girls' team and some were in favor. The first few speakers all begged the school board to intervene and remove the male from the girls' volleyball team. 

"If you want groundbreaking, revolutionary, inclusive ideas, start a trans league so trans people can compete against each other. But keep biological men out of biological girls’ sports. Protect our girls," John Goodman, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, said. 

Parents and community members packed a District 211 meeting after a 6-foot-4 trans-identifying male reportedly made Conant High’s freshman girls volleyball team, prompting a coach’s resignation.

(Getty Images)

The second speaker, Angela, identified herself as a parent of a girl at Conant High School and a high school teacher of over 20 years. 

"You have a right to feel how you feel about your own gender… but when you enter a protected private girls-only space as a biological male… you are infringing upon the rights of those to their privacy and protected spaces," Angela said. 

"My daughter will not hide in spaces where she was told she would be protected, and she will not be counseled into feeling comfortable taking her clothes off in front of a 6-foot-4 biological male," she added. 

The third speaker, Vicki, alleged that some girls were told to change in the nurse's office if they were uncomfortable sharing a locker room with a male student. 

"You need to stop humiliating girls by telling them if they don’t like having males in their locker rooms, they can carry their clothes to the nurse’s office down the hall," she said. "Girls continue to be treated like second-class citizens… Good policy cannot be based on feelings that can change from day to day. Good policy is created by stable adults who have the best interests of all students in mind." 

Proponents of trans ideology showed up, too 

After several speakers voiced their displeasure with a male infiltrating the girls' volleyball team and private spaces, those on the other side showed up. One woman, who identified herself as the parent of a "non-binary" child, claimed that people who don't think men belong in women's sports are bigots. 

"I am so very tired of hearing so much bigotry in my own community against those children. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and ridiculous," she said. 

The next speaker added, "We are here for a special board meeting about one kid on a Conant volleyball team who has done nothing wrong at all — who has committed the only sin of living their true self."

This was a common theme among the trans-ideology backers. Nearly every one of them used some form of the phrase "true, authentic self." Apparently, being born a boy and living as a boy isn't authentic. "Identifying" as a girl is the only way to be "your true self." 

Blaire Fleming, a transgender former volleyball player for San Jose State University, sparked a national debate last year about male inclusion on female teams. 

(Getty Images)

Another common thread was the consistent reference to the 6-foot-4 teenager as a "child." While that might be technically true, given that the athlete is likely 14 or 15 years old, it's also a tactic to control the language and make the person seem like less of a threat to the teenage girls sharing the locker room. 

And what about them? Aren't those girls children, too? As one of the early speakers pointed out, "The adults in this district need to wake up, stop causing harm to children, stop adding to the distress of them by telling some that their feelings do matter and telling others that they don't." 

Police forced to intervene 

Nearly 40 minutes into the meeting, a commotion began in the crowd, as seen on the livestream. The moderator asked police officers to remove a woman, who was labeled a disruption. The woman claimed she was being threatened and refused to leave. A recess was called, and the live feed cut out for about seven minutes while, presumably, the problem was handled. 

Based on the available information, it's unclear on which side of the debate the woman fell. 

When the meeting resumed, so did the public speakers. One woman, Karen, said she was thankful that her daughter had recently graduated from high school so she wouldn't be forced into the position that the young girls find themselves in. She also delivered some of the strongest remarks of the evening. 

"Science says he is a biological boy and can never be a girl. This is not an attack on the boy. If he wants to pretend to be a girl, that is his choice. However, it is not society's responsibility to pretend he is one. It's not a girl's responsibility to feel uncomfortable or unsafe for the sake of a boy pretending to be a girl," she said. 

The final speaker, Sophia Steele, graduated from a high school in the district and played women's golf at the collegiate level. She asked some rhetorical questions of the board members. 

"Do you want your daughters changing in the locker room, and next to them is a penis? Do you want your girls to talk about girl stuff, their periods, whatever that might be, next to someone that has male genitalia?" Steele asked. 

"I can tell you at Conant, that's what's happening … yes, it's one person right now, but if we allow it to happen, it's just going to keep happening," she added. 

OutKick will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates as we have them. 

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