Philadelphia schools to allow trans children to participate in sports
The Philadelphia school district will reportedly ignore a rule directing schools to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports that match their gender identities, according to reporting from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The school district 'strives to ensure safety, equity and justice for all students regardless of gender identity or gender expression so that they can imagine and realize any future they desire', a spokesperson, Christina Clark, said in a statement on Tuesday to the Inquirer.
'The district will continue to align its practices to support its LGBTQ+ students in accordance with Board Policy 252 for transgender and gender non-conforming students,' the statement said.
The district's decision comes after the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) approved a revision to remove its transgender policy in compliance with Donald Trump's executive order called Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, which banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
According to the PIAA's board meeting summary from 19 February, the policy change, which was effective immediately, was amended in the Mixed Gender Participation section of the handbook.
Before the the amendment, the PIAA handbook included a one-sentence transgender policy: 'Where a student's gender is questioned or uncertain, the decision of the principal as to the student's gender will be accepted by PIAA.'
Additionally, the board changed its language to no longer ask schools to determine students' gender, but rather their sex.
The Philadelphia school district's move to continue to allow freedom for trans athletes is a sign of positive pushback for trans people, who have experienced an onslaught on their rights following Trump's executive order.
Philadelphia had originally been one of the earliest adopters of progressive policies towards transgender issues, voting in 2016 to allow students to use preferred pronouns, bathrooms and to play in sports that match their gender identity.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump to send 9,000 migrants to terrorist detention center
Donald Trump is set to send thousands more illegal migrants to the infamous terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay starting this week in an acceleration of his mass deportation plan. In February, Trump deployed members of the Armed Forces to expand the capacity of a detention facility at the Cuba base. This week, at least 9,000 people are being identified for a potential transfer to the prison as early as Wednesday, Politico reported. Currently, around 500 migrants have been held at the jail known as 'Gitmo' for short stints in the past few months. These holds would also be temporary, as it would be a pit stop on the way to being deported to the country they came from. However, it would reportedly send a message to foreign countries that America is closed to migrants who aren't willing to go through the legal process. A document obtained by the outlet said that several hundred Europeans - including over a hundred Russians and Romanians - that has the State Department worried. 'The message is to shock and horrify people, to upset people, but we're allies,' an anonymous State Department official familiar with the plans said. The White House also faces legal challenges to the policy. The United States Navy announced that its combat ship USS St. Louis was moored at the Guantanamo Bay naval station and that the crew was supporting the expansion in February. Photographs showed members of the armed forces setting up army green tents and pounding large stakes into the ground to hold them up. The first phase of the expansion is expected to increase the center's capacity to 2,000, according to the Navy, with plans to expand it to fit 30,000 migrants. The detention facility is widely known as the location for detained terrorism suspects in recent years, but the Trump administration has decided to expand it's use for detaining migrants scheduled for deportation. Trump announced plans for his administration to detain as many as 30,000 high priority migrants with criminal records at the military base at Guantanamo Bay. Legal experts stress that detainees at Guantanamo Bay will still have legal rights afforded to them by the Constitution, as the Supreme Court defended terror suspects right to habeas corpus and a lawyer. 'The government's view at that time was that Guantanamo was sort of outside the parameters of the U.S. Constitution, and whoever was there had no rights, whatever. And the Supreme Court rejected that,' Eugene Fidell, Yale Law School military law expert noted. 'We don't want them coming back, so we're sending them to Guantanamo,' he said at the White House. Trump's border czar Tom Homan (pictured) told reporters the administration would expand the capacity of the facility as the military has planned to erect temporary tents. 'We're just going to expand upon that existing migrant center,' Homan said.
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Kosovo accepts US request to host third-party deportees
PRISTINA, June 11 (Reuters) - Kosovo has accepted a request to receive migrants deported from the United States, with an initial plan to take in 50 deportees per year, the government said in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday. "The government has expressed its readiness to participate, with the opportunity to select individuals from a proposed pool, provided they meet specific criteria related to the rule of law and public order," it said. The United States is on the look-out for partners to receive third party nationals as it seeks to deliver on President Donald Trump's promise of record-level deportations. Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, already has a deal to receive 300 prison inmates from Denmark beginning in 2027 in return for 210 million euros over the next decade, and has expressed interest in receiving deportees from Britain. Kosovo-U.S. relations are particularly strong, given the U.S. lead in supporting independence from Serbia in 2008. "We hold their support in very high regard," the statement said.
Daily Mirror
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
9 unhinged Donald Trump moments as Elon Musk posts oddly-worded message
Tanks rolled through the streets of Washington DC last night, as Donald Trump goaded troops into booing elected politicians and journalists. And Elon Musk says he might have gone "too far". Here's everything you need to know Tanks rolled through the streets of Washington DC last night, as Donald Trump goaded troops into booing elected politicians and journalists. The President branded fellow Americans who protested against his policies "animals." He warned there would be a harsh response to anyone who took part in protests during a military parade on his birthday. And that all happened within the space of about two hours. Here's everything you need to know about that - plus Elon Musk walking back some of his tweets. 1. He called protesters "animals" and "paid insurrectionists" During a Q&A in the Oval Office, Trump branded people protesting against his programme of mass deportations "animals." And he claimed - without providing any evidence - that protesters in LA are "paid". "It would have been total control if we didn't have the military in there, the National Guard, and we also sent in some Marines," he said. "We had some bad people. We had people they look in your face and they spit right in your face. They're animals. 2. He lied about talking to California's governor Asked at the Tuesday press conference when he last spoke to California Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump said: "A day ago." Mr Newsom pointed out that wasn't true, saying there had been no phone call - not even a voicemail. Then the White House did something very weird - they released a call log, apparently intended to disprove Newsom's denial. But the call log said Trump's last call to Newsom was a 16 minute call - four days earlier, before troops were deployed to LA. So we're not sure why they did that. 3. Tanks started rolling into Washington As we've mentioned before, Trump is gearing up for a massive display of America's military might - with a huge tank parade set for the streets of Washington on Saturday. Trump is said to have been inspired by seeing the Bastille Day parade in Paris, and has been trying to get this done since his first term. Saturday is Flag Day, which marks the 250th anniversary of the US Army. It also happens to be Donald Trump's 79th birthday. 4. He gave a stern warning to anyone planning to protest at his birthday parade Woe betide anyone who decides to exercise their first amendment right to protest during the military parade. "We're going to celebrate big on Saturday," he said. "If any protesters want to come out, they will be met with very big force." It's been pointed out that he didn't say anything about the "big force" being reserved for violent protesters. "People that want to protest will be met with big force," he said - acknowledging he'd not heard of any plans for a protest in DC. 5. He goaded soldiers into booing two elected American politicians Later Trump gave a speech to troops at Fort Bragg, during which he repeated several baseless conspiracy theories about the protests in LA. But his most searing attacks were aimed at California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass - whom the President encouraged the troops to boo. 'In Los Angeles, the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, they're incompetent and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists," he said. "They're engaged in this willful attempt to nullify federal law, and aid the occupation of the city by criminal invaders." None of the above is true. But the troops, sworn to defend and protect America from enemies foreign and domestic, booed California's elected politicians loudly. 6. And journalists. He got them to boo journalists too Oh and obviously he goaded them into booing journalists doing their job. Of course he did. 7. He issued a vague threat to Europe There was a weird moment where he compared the protests in LA to a vague attack on Europe. "We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again," he said. "It's happening very quickly." He went on: "They have it in Europe too. It's happening in many of the countries in Europe. They don't like it when I say it, I'll say it loudly and clearly, they'd better do something before it's too late." It's unclear what he meant by any of this. 8. He vowed to rename army bases after a string of enemies of the united states Trump declared he plans to rename seven Army Bases after Confederate traitors, who opposed the United States in the Civil War - taking the side of the southern states in the conflict over slavery. Among them is Robert E Lee, who was commander of the Confederate States Army. 9. Aaaaand Elon Musk is walking back "some" of his tweets The biggest beef in modern political history may have cooled somewhat. Last week the bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk imploded in operatic fashion - with Trump threatening to pull Musk's government contracts and Musk making a wild and unsubstantiated claim that Trump appeared in FBI files about dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Well, towards the end of last week Musk quietly deleted some of the more inflammatory posts - specifically the ones about Epstein. And this morning, he issued an oddly worded statement on X, saying: "I regret some of my posts about President Trump last week. They went too far." He doesn't say they were wrong, or jokes, or exaggerated or explain why they went too far. Only that he regrets them. Like I say, odd.
