Women's basketball players at Columbia Bible College (CBC) in British Columbia, in Canada, have signed a letter responding to an opposing team that is refusing to play games against CBC over alleged abuse against a transgender player.
Vancouver Island University (VIU) announced on Thursday it will not play its two games against CBC this weekend after an incident in the last meeting between the two teams in October, alleging that a CBC coach treated the trans athlete in a way that violated the Coach's Code of Ethics. VIU has asked its conference, the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST), not to penalize its team for not playing the games due to the nature of the situation.
VIU's transgender player, Harriette Mackenzie, has made public statements alleging that CBC coaches and players behaved in an abusive manner.
The letter by the CBC players, obtained by Fox News Digital, condemns VIU's team for "personal attacks," "defamatory comments" and even "comments that incite violence," against their coach.
"Videos and letters posted by members of the VIU women’s basketball team over the past three months have directly violated multiple rules stated in Article 17.2 of the manual. Various posts have included 'personal attacks,' 'defamatory comments,' 'lack of respect towards the PACWEST,' and led to 'comments that incite to violence and/or hatred' directed at our coach," the letter read.
"Any and all allegations made by VIU players regarding our team and coach should have been directly communicated to PACWEST officials alone, they should not have been uploaded publicly to social media."
The letter even called the VIU players' statements "misinformation."
"The attack on Coach Claggett’s character, and the character of our team, over the past three months has been based on misinformation and one side of a complicated scenario," it read.
Mackenzie posted a video to the athlete's Instagram page on Oct. 30, alleging that Columbia Bible head coach Taylor Clagett "cornered one of our athletic staff and went on a tirade about how I shouldn’t be allowed to play."
Mackenzie said she was also deliberately fouled to the ground by a Columbia Bible player.
"I got two-hand chucked to the ground by No. 13 without a play on the ball in sight, then head coach Clagett can be seen applauding in support," the trans athlete said.
Mackenzie helped lead the Mariners to the 2022-23 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship. This season, the athlete is second in the PACWEST in scoring with 16.1 points per game and third in rebounds with 9.4 per game, as VIU is 11-1 in the conference. Mackenzie is also second in conference in shooting percentage at 49.7%.
"I believe all trans people should be included in sport. But it's especially infuriating to me, because I'm playing — and being forced to play — at a major biological disadvantage," Mackenzie said in the video. "I never went through a male puberty. I only went through a female puberty. And I don't have ovaries, I don't have testicles, so I have zero way of making any testosterone."
The CBC players' letters also claims that the VIU team has violated standard procedure for canceling games, and the PACWEST has not held VIU to the proper standards.
"In the past when a team has refused to participate and travel to a scheduled game they have received 0 points in the classification. By postponing the games this weekend PACWEST has contradicted the standard operating procedure. There has been no clear rationale provided to our team to justify this departure from normal procedures," the letter read.
"Additionally, Article 13 section 9.1.1 states that if a team cannot make a scheduled game the coach or athletic director is to contact the opposing director of athletics to ‘indicate the reason for their inability to meet their scheduled commitment.' To our knowledge, this requirement was not met."
The CBC players, who have stayed silent to this point, believe they no longer can.
"Up until this point we have stayed silent. We have shown respect to the PacWest and VIU over the past few months by staying off social media and voicing our concerns through official channels. The VIU women’s basketball team has not shared this same respect towards PacWest or CBC and has communicated primarily on social media," the letter read.
"Their behaviour has been rewarded in how their refusal to play this weekend has been 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 is not mistaken for passivity."
Since June 2017, all places within Canada explicitly within the Canadian Human Rights Act, equal opportunity and/or anti-discrimination legislation prohibit discrimination against gender identity or gender identity expression. This law protects the inclusion of all trans athletes in women's and girls' sports.
In the U.S., President-elect Trump has vowed to ban trans athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that Canada join the U.S., potentially as the 51st state.
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