I am Luis Fernandez - of Woodley suspension (in)famy

[Anonymous]

Oh look, a self righteous man doesn’t like being held accountable for his actions so he has to go all over the internet to get validation for bullying a child and his family after demonstrating that it’s okay for a grown man to inspect young kids genitalia and ignoring meet officials is okay if you disagreed with their decision.

And then let’s be sure to pull the DEI card out because clearly that’s top of his list of concerns.

[Anonymous]

So to be clear. Given that everything you said is entirely true and all the people in this thread that said the swimmer was in fact a girl are misinformed or lying- You, at an unsanctioned meet for young kids:

1.) Looked at the crotch of a kid 8 or under based on the fact you said it was 25m backstroke.
2.) Then looked at the crotch of all the other girls in the race.
3.) Told the ref who blew you off
4.) Were explained to in painstaking detail that even if this was an NVSL event (which it was not) current rules say it doesn’t matter.
5.) began verbally attacking the parents of the kid. Which you used profanity during (though you say not at)
6.) were then asked to leave
7.) then vandalized the results in order to bully a young kid further
8.) pushed the story to a right wing site that has apparently led to the the pool having to close because they were receiving abuse.
9.) Then continued to push the story here. Ostensibly to try and generate more hate to the pool.


This is your side of the story, which I assume paints you in the most positive possible light. I am supposed to look at this fact pattern and view you as the aggrieved hero of this story?

And genuinely. Say the ref said “okay, I’ll ask this kid if she’s a girl” and then she said yes, what was the next move? Demand to see it? Order chromosome testing prior to the the race where everyone is more concerned about whether there are free popsicles at the end?


Self reflection can be a gift.

[Anonymous]

^^ Great summary!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel so horribly for the family of the swimmer at the center of this ridiculous fiasco. Have you ever even considered putting yourself in their shoes?

They have a child who is likely struggling with their identity but also wants to swim. I bet they just want the best for their kid and to help their child grow into a confident happy human who spends their time participating in activities that make them happy and grow their confidence at a time when they may be doubting an awful lot about themselves.

And then comes along a self-righteous, bigoted garbage human who feels that it is his right to publicly tear it all down.

You sir, are the worst kind of a$$hole there is.

Then they should have taken that up with the powers that be to make sure it was ok to bend the rules in a sex segregated event where times mattered. It’s not a free for all based on the whims of a kid to decide who they are on a given day.

I'm so sick and tired of this bigoted type of garbage. Most families of transgender children go through the wringer with their kids between the ages where they are old enough to know that something doesn't feel right but too young to be able to grasp what is going on with themselves. It is very often a years-long exhausting process to help their child navigate their situation before they ever come out publicly. Reducing it to a "whim" to decide who they are on a given day is highly offensive to those transgender individuals who most likely have struggled with their identity for as long as they can remember.

Get out of there with that.

The world doesn’t revolved around you and yours. Every kid might have their challenges and issues to overcome.

True every kid might have their own challenges and issues to overcome and our jobs as adults is not to bully them and make their lives harder. A little empathy goes a long way.

OP claims to have done this because he cares about girls in sports and fairness but I can’t think of anything worse for girls in sports than having grown men stare at their genitalia at a swim meet. Or having grown men feel empowered to question their gender at sporting events and write “boy” on a publicly displayed results board. This behavior is disguising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So to be clear. Given that everything you said is entirely true and all the people in this thread that said the swimmer was in fact a girl are misinformed or lying- You, at an unsanctioned meet for young kids:

1.) Looked at the crotch of a kid 8 or under based on the fact you said it was 25m backstroke.
2.) Then looked at the crotch of all the other girls in the race.
3.) Told the ref who blew you off
4.) Were explained to in painstaking detail that even if this was an NVSL event (which it was not) current rules say it doesn’t matter.
5.) began verbally attacking the parents of the kid. Which you used profanity during (though you say not at)
6.) were then asked to leave
7.) then vandalized the results in order to bully a young kid further
8.) pushed the story to a right wing site that has apparently led to the the pool having to close because they were receiving abuse.
9.) Then continued to push the story here. Ostensibly to try and generate more hate to the pool.


This is your side of the story, which I assume paints you in the most positive possible light. I am supposed to look at this fact pattern and view you as the aggrieved hero of this story?

And genuinely. Say the ref said “okay, I’ll ask this kid if she’s a girl” and then she said yes, what was the next move? Demand to see it? Order chromosome testing prior to the the race where everyone is more concerned about whether there are free popsicles at the end?


Self reflection can be a gift.

Well-said. I hope this guy disappears. He’s not well. He should not be around children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel so horribly for the family of the swimmer at the center of this ridiculous fiasco. Have you ever even considered putting yourself in their shoes?

They have a child who is likely struggling with their identity but also wants to swim. I bet they just want the best for their kid and to help their child grow into a confident happy human who spends their time participating in activities that make them happy and grow their confidence at a time when they may be doubting an awful lot about themselves.

And then comes along a self-righteous, bigoted garbage human who feels that it is his right to publicly tear it all down.

You sir, are the worst kind of a$$hole there is.

Then they should have taken that up with the powers that be to make sure it was ok to bend the rules in a sex segregated event where times mattered. It’s not a free for all based on the whims of a kid to decide who they are on a given day.

I'm so sick and tired of this bigoted type of garbage. Most families of transgender children go through the wringer with their kids between the ages where they are old enough to know that something doesn't feel right but too young to be able to grasp what is going on with themselves. It is very often a years-long exhausting process to help their child navigate their situation before they ever come out publicly. Reducing it to a "whim" to decide who they are on a given day is highly offensive to those transgender individuals who most likely have struggled with their identity for as long as they can remember.

Get out of there with that.

The world doesn’t revolved around you and yours. Every kid might have their challenges and issues to overcome.

True every kid might have their own challenges and issues to overcome and our jobs as adults is not to bully them and make their lives harder. A little empathy goes a long way.

OP claims to have done this because he cares about girls in sports and fairness but I can’t think of anything worse for girls in sports than having grown men stare at their genitalia at a swim meet. Or having grown men feel empowered to question their gender at sporting events and write “boy” on a publicly displayed results board. This behavior is disguising.

+1. Thanks to the deranged actions of the OP, this little girl may never swim again. It’s hard to imagine how one keeps their love of sport after being treated this way. The fact that it happened to a 7 year old absolutely makes me sick. I have a 7 year old (male) swimmer, and something like this could destroy him. And he doesn’t have any of the baggage of being a girl in America.

Shame on you OP. In my opinion, there isn’t any punishment for what you did that is harsh enough. You had better find that girl’s family and make amends.

[Anonymous]

This is the pool of some of my close friends and I trust their account/understanding of events. One of them is involved with the pool affairs, and has also worked as a volunteer marshall.

Given the unanimity of his suspension by the board, and the stress and harassment to the pool that was created by going to a right wing website, I fail to see why NVSL ought to give any consideration to his proposal.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your posts. I am really glad I posted. I'm going to update the page I created with some of what I say here so that it's easier to reference in the future by any of you or anyone else interested.

There are too many posts to respond individually to each, so I'm going to just respond to some themes.

1. One of the themes raised has been whether I'm seeking attention. The short answer is yes. Here's the long answer:

In the first week after this event, I told very few people about it because I had stayed at the pool long after the meet had finished in order to face any potential consequences for having written the word "boy" on the meet sheets. When none of the officials - three officials closely involved in how things have unfolded stayed after the meet as long as I did, including one Woodley Board member - approached me, I assumed the whole affair was basically dead. And when a week passed with nothing happening, I wasn't thinking about it at all.

Then I learned about Woodley's decision to suspend (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board). At that point my sole goal was to be reinstated. By Jul 23, I still had only shared the story with about ten people who were giving me advice.

On Jul 27, the WRA Board's letter made it obvious that the pool had no intention of treating me fairly (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board>11 - WRA - Fernandez Clarifying Questions - 27 Jul 2025). At that point, I readjusted my focus and decided to take the advice of one of my close friends to take the story public. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish - I laid out the following objectives which are still accurate. They are in order from the goals I thought I could most effectively impact to least.

Goals
1. Reinstatement to Woodley
2. Changes to Woodley Board make-up, approach, and pool rules
3. Enforcement of boys only in boys events and girls only in girls events at Woodley hosted meets
4. Clarification of NVSL rules and policies to ensure all NVSL pools register their swimmers according to their biological sex and enforce rules around sex differentiated events
5. End gender abuse

My continued public presence is intended to only have limited impact on goals #1 and #2. The point of seeking attention is to try and impact goals #3, #4, and #5. This entire thread is focused on achieving #4 - even if some of you who disagree with me on the issue of so-called "trans girls" competing as girls can help, partially. If you also ask NVSL to clarify its rules, we'll all know what we are signing up for.

2. Another theme concerned my focus on NVSL when the meet was run by Woodley.

The Meet Host cited NVSL rules when we were talking, so even if NVSL was not involved in this meet, each pool registered their swimmers and officials were instructed to officiate according to NVSL guidelines. Also since we have our kids on the Woodley Swim Team, we want to know what rules NVSL will enforce. Believe it or not, I don't want to have a repeat of this incident.

3. The question was raised (in different ways) how should the sex rules be enforced?

I don't think we need adults to scan bodies. It'll be annoying, but it now seems necessary, that we will need pools to use a birth certificate or a walker ID to register their children. Other leagues require these kinds of government issued identification documents; I see no reason NVSL couldn't require the same.

4. Someone else defended me already, but on the issue of whether I was doing anything untoward with respect to noticing that there was a boy in the event, I'll just say that you don't have to be closely inspecting something to notice that something is wrong or different or strange. I think people criticizing me for this are being silly and disingenuous.

5. Switching gears - some of you said that I'm harming the pool I claim to love by keeping the pool in the public eye.

Yea, I think you have a point, and I did consider this before I went to the press and I continue to consider this problem. I'll say a few things:
- I think the "threat" to the pool is exaggerated. I don't think there's good evidence showing that conservatives are especially violent, though I assume a lot of people have created a nuisance for the pool.
- the pool acted in bad faith, first, and I had and continue to have limited recourse, if you haven't read through the Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board then I think you're missing a key part of the story.
- I already made this point earlier, but once the pool effectively made the path to reinstatement very narrow, then it made a lot more sense to try to pursue the other goals on my list

6. I thought the best comments concerned my act of vigilantism

- I actually agree with many of the statements made in this thread - I admit that everything I did after raising the issue with the officials was taking matters in my own hands. I also agree that I should face consequences commensurate with those actions. Note that I returned to the pool and stayed long after the meet was over precisely to face the consequences of my actions.
- Here's the problem - at the meet, apart from asking me to leave the deck no one said anything. After the meet, no one said anything to me despite significant opportunity. A week later at a different pool, no one said anything to me. Even now, the Woodley Board isn't citing any of the acts of vigilantism being cited in this thread as the reason for my suspension! The Woodley Board is citing aggressive behavior - which NEVER happened. The consequences - complete suspension - don't match either the false accusation (aggressive behavior) or the actual crime (vigilantism).
- I don't think speaking with the spectators was vigilantism. I deny that I embarrassed them - the three women were standing close together and there was no one else around. I do agree that it was outside my duties as a marshal - but that doesn't make it vigilantism. I was attempting to challenge their world view in the most effective way I could think of for the moment.
- I think the only act of vigilantism that deserves consequences is writing the word "boy" on the meet sheets, but I still don't even think anyone knew I'd done that until I told the Daily Wire. I mention this in my account of the events, but the marker I used was horrible, so I still think that that little bit of vigilantism was remarkably impotent.
- You are right that I think the deeper gender issue (#5 on my "goals" list, less so the fair sport issue - #3 and #4 on my list) is important enough to have attempted some vigilante justice.

OK, to wrap up my side, I want to respond to one of the posters who was kind enough to respond to my request for more substantive criticism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were wrong about everything. You had zero authority to do what you did.

- long time swim mom who is against trans girls competing with cis gender girls.

You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?

I address my authority (or lack thereof) to act here: Woodley Suspension>Luis'Account>Speaking to the Offending Team>My Thoughts.

I'd be interested to hear how you've handled similar situations or if you haven't encountered similar situations, how you expect to change the current landscape vis a vis "trans girls competing with cis gender girls". For other readers, I suggest that you can avoid situations like mine by acting now and writing to your pool and league governing boards.

Jeez, you seriously need help.

1. You cursed. You claim it could have happened but don’t think so…and someone else says it did. Their memory stands uncontroverted.

2. You wrote “boy” on the results on the sheet for all to see.

3. You criticized mom and grandma publicly.

4. You took matters into your own hands when you did not like the result of your reporting.

5. There is not even independent confirmation (not from you) as to this kid’s gender.

Luis, you wrote me: “You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?”

I responded with the 5 specifics above. Since I took the time to answer you, please give me the courtesy of directly responding to every point I made.

1. I agree that I should not have cursed. I was frustrated at the situation, but you are right that I should not have done that. Note that the only specific example of cursing comes from my own testimony - the Woodley Board has not provided any specific accusation about my language. Read or re-read the exchange.

2. I agree that was an act of vigilantism that should carry consequences - though as I pointed out above, I still think that no one actually noticed that. The Woodley Board certainly didn't mention it. If you read my exchange with the Board, you'll see that the first time they say anything specific about their accusation is in their public statement to the entire pool membership AFTER I went to the press. In other words, the Board is being much less forthcoming than I have been - I'd love to know if the posters in this thread reserve any criticism for the Board's actions.

3. I did no such thing. I am confident no one overheard me asking those three women my three questions.

4. Yes, I think I've addressed my motivation. At the end of this post I'll just say a few words about why I care so much about the gender issue.

5. That's true - I don't think we'll get it, though, and I've addressed my thoughts on this Woodley Suspension>FAQ>What if you are mistaken that the “boy” was in fact a girl?

So, I think you and I are actually not so far off. I think the big differences are that I think the issue (#5 in my "goals" list, less #3 or #4) justifies the vigilantism and I think the consequences leveled by the pool are disproportionate to that act - not least because the pool hasn't even identified vigilantism or the underlying gender issue as the reason for my suspension, but rather this bogeyman of aggressive behavior.

Thanks again for engaging me in this thread. It was useful to me to read the comments. I hope it's been useful to you to read my responses and to read each others arguments. I'll close with a few words on the gender issue.

Our bodies are sexed at conception - we cannot divorce our humanity from our sex. The impact of this fact, or assertion, is that anything that casts doubt on the reality of sex ultimately casts doubt on our humanity. A person that questions his own humanity cannot live an integral life, cannot have fulfillment, and is ultimately doomed - he knows not the purpose of his existence because his very existence is subject to doubt. For this reason, anyone who confuses a child, purposely or accidentally, needs to be corrected.

For those of you who asked the "what if it were your child" hypothetical - the answer is simple, I would correct the child's confusion gently whenever it comes up - "no, mommy is a girl and you are a boy, just like me" - and more firmly as I saw need to "no, you can't wear a dress because boys use pants". Yes, that includes fighting through a child's tears - it is that important. No, I don't think the dress or the pants are that important - in our culture those articles of clothing are some of the markers for sex differentiation - I think the thing they represent, sex difference, is that important to affirm.

I may come back and see if there any new comments but I don't expect to post here after this monster post.

Cheers to all of you, I don't think this conversation ever degenerated!
Luis

[Anonymous]

Wow. Even though I agree with your stance on boys in girls sports, you couldn't have done a better job of turning people against you and pushing people away if you tried. If your goals were really as stated above, you are now further away from accomplishing any of them. I strongly encourage you to really listen to the comments here regarding your behavior, and not just an echo chamber of your 10 individuals feeding your BS. Starting point would have been some recognition for how you crossed the line and an apology.

As a referee, the absolute last thing I would want to deal with is your BS after the meet had ended, so I can't fault any officials for choosing not to engage in further confrontation at that time. That doesn't make you right, it just means the volunteers didn't want to put up with more of your self-righteous crap after a long day.

Between the other thread and this one, there are about 400 posts disagreeing with your actions. Please take some time to try to take it to heart. Quite frankly, I'm surprised your board hasn't done more than a suspension at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your posts. I am really glad I posted. I'm going to update the page I created with some of what I say here so that it's easier to reference in the future by any of you or anyone else interested.

There are too many posts to respond individually to each, so I'm going to just respond to some themes.

1. One of the themes raised has been whether I'm seeking attention. The short answer is yes. Here's the long answer:

In the first week after this event, I told very few people about it because I had stayed at the pool long after the meet had finished in order to face any potential consequences for having written the word "boy" on the meet sheets. When none of the officials - three officials closely involved in how things have unfolded stayed after the meet as long as I did, including one Woodley Board member - approached me, I assumed the whole affair was basically dead. And when a week passed with nothing happening, I wasn't thinking about it at all.

Then I learned about Woodley's decision to suspend (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board). At that point my sole goal was to be reinstated. By Jul 23, I still had only shared the story with about ten people who were giving me advice.

On Jul 27, the WRA Board's letter made it obvious that the pool had no intention of treating me fairly (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board>11 - WRA - Fernandez Clarifying Questions - 27 Jul 2025). At that point, I readjusted my focus and decided to take the advice of one of my close friends to take the story public. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish - I laid out the following objectives which are still accurate. They are in order from the goals I thought I could most effectively impact to least.

Goals
1. Reinstatement to Woodley
2. Changes to Woodley Board make-up, approach, and pool rules
3. Enforcement of boys only in boys events and girls only in girls events at Woodley hosted meets
4. Clarification of NVSL rules and policies to ensure all NVSL pools register their swimmers according to their biological sex and enforce rules around sex differentiated events
5. End gender abuse

My continued public presence is intended to only have limited impact on goals #1 and #2. The point of seeking attention is to try and impact goals #3, #4, and #5. This entire thread is focused on achieving #4 - even if some of you who disagree with me on the issue of so-called "trans girls" competing as girls can help, partially. If you also ask NVSL to clarify its rules, we'll all know what we are signing up for.

2. Another theme concerned my focus on NVSL when the meet was run by Woodley.

The Meet Host cited NVSL rules when we were talking, so even if NVSL was not involved in this meet, each pool registered their swimmers and officials were instructed to officiate according to NVSL guidelines. Also since we have our kids on the Woodley Swim Team, we want to know what rules NVSL will enforce. Believe it or not, I don't want to have a repeat of this incident.

3. The question was raised (in different ways) how should the sex rules be enforced?

I don't think we need adults to scan bodies. It'll be annoying, but it now seems necessary, that we will need pools to use a birth certificate or a walker ID to register their children. Other leagues require these kinds of government issued identification documents; I see no reason NVSL couldn't require the same.

4. Someone else defended me already, but on the issue of whether I was doing anything untoward with respect to noticing that there was a boy in the event, I'll just say that you don't have to be closely inspecting something to notice that something is wrong or different or strange. I think people criticizing me for this are being silly and disingenuous.

5. Switching gears - some of you said that I'm harming the pool I claim to love by keeping the pool in the public eye.

Yea, I think you have a point, and I did consider this before I went to the press and I continue to consider this problem. I'll say a few things:
- I think the "threat" to the pool is exaggerated. I don't think there's good evidence showing that conservatives are especially violent, though I assume a lot of people have created a nuisance for the pool.
- the pool acted in bad faith, first, and I had and continue to have limited recourse, if you haven't read through the Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board then I think you're missing a key part of the story.
- I already made this point earlier, but once the pool effectively made the path to reinstatement very narrow, then it made a lot more sense to try to pursue the other goals on my list

6. I thought the best comments concerned my act of vigilantism

- I actually agree with many of the statements made in this thread - I admit that everything I did after raising the issue with the officials was taking matters in my own hands. I also agree that I should face consequences commensurate with those actions. Note that I returned to the pool and stayed long after the meet was over precisely to face the consequences of my actions.
- Here's the problem - at the meet, apart from asking me to leave the deck no one said anything. After the meet, no one said anything to me despite significant opportunity. A week later at a different pool, no one said anything to me. Even now, the Woodley Board isn't citing any of the acts of vigilantism being cited in this thread as the reason for my suspension! The Woodley Board is citing aggressive behavior - which NEVER happened. The consequences - complete suspension - don't match either the false accusation (aggressive behavior) or the actual crime (vigilantism).
- I don't think speaking with the spectators was vigilantism. I deny that I embarrassed them - the three women were standing close together and there was no one else around. I do agree that it was outside my duties as a marshal - but that doesn't make it vigilantism. I was attempting to challenge their world view in the most effective way I could think of for the moment.
- I think the only act of vigilantism that deserves consequences is writing the word "boy" on the meet sheets, but I still don't even think anyone knew I'd done that until I told the Daily Wire. I mention this in my account of the events, but the marker I used was horrible, so I still think that that little bit of vigilantism was remarkably impotent.
- You are right that I think the deeper gender issue (#5 on my "goals" list, less so the fair sport issue - #3 and #4 on my list) is important enough to have attempted some vigilante justice.

OK, to wrap up my side, I want to respond to one of the posters who was kind enough to respond to my request for more substantive criticism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were wrong about everything. You had zero authority to do what you did.

- long time swim mom who is against trans girls competing with cis gender girls.

You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?

I address my authority (or lack thereof) to act here: Woodley Suspension>Luis'Account>Speaking to the Offending Team>My Thoughts.

I'd be interested to hear how you've handled similar situations or if you haven't encountered similar situations, how you expect to change the current landscape vis a vis "trans girls competing with cis gender girls". For other readers, I suggest that you can avoid situations like mine by acting now and writing to your pool and league governing boards.

Jeez, you seriously need help.

1. You cursed. You claim it could have happened but don’t think so…and someone else says it did. Their memory stands uncontroverted.

2. You wrote “boy” on the results on the sheet for all to see.

3. You criticized mom and grandma publicly.

4. You took matters into your own hands when you did not like the result of your reporting.

5. There is not even independent confirmation (not from you) as to this kid’s gender.

Luis, you wrote me: “You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?”

I responded with the 5 specifics above. Since I took the time to answer you, please give me the courtesy of directly responding to every point I made.

1. I agree that I should not have cursed. I was frustrated at the situation, but you are right that I should not have done that. Note that the only specific example of cursing comes from my own testimony - the Woodley Board has not provided any specific accusation about my language. Read or re-read the exchange.

2. I agree that was an act of vigilantism that should carry consequences - though as I pointed out above, I still think that no one actually noticed that. The Woodley Board certainly didn't mention it. If you read my exchange with the Board, you'll see that the first time they say anything specific about their accusation is in their public statement to the entire pool membership AFTER I went to the press. In other words, the Board is being much less forthcoming than I have been - I'd love to know if the posters in this thread reserve any criticism for the Board's actions.

3. I did no such thing. I am confident no one overheard me asking those three women my three questions.

4. Yes, I think I've addressed my motivation. At the end of this post I'll just say a few words about why I care so much about the gender issue.

5. That's true - I don't think we'll get it, though, and I've addressed my thoughts on this Woodley Suspension>FAQ>What if you are mistaken that the “boy” was in fact a girl?

So, I think you and I are actually not so far off. I think the big differences are that I think the issue (#5 in my "goals" list, less #3 or #4) justifies the vigilantism and I think the consequences leveled by the pool are disproportionate to that act - not least because the pool hasn't even identified vigilantism or the underlying gender issue as the reason for my suspension, but rather this bogeyman of aggressive behavior.

Thanks again for engaging me in this thread. It was useful to me to read the comments. I hope it's been useful to you to read my responses and to read each others arguments. I'll close with a few words on the gender issue.

Our bodies are sexed at conception - we cannot divorce our humanity from our sex. The impact of this fact, or assertion, is that anything that casts doubt on the reality of sex ultimately casts doubt on our humanity. A person that questions his own humanity cannot live an integral life, cannot have fulfillment, and is ultimately doomed - he knows not the purpose of his existence because his very existence is subject to doubt. For this reason, anyone who confuses a child, purposely or accidentally, needs to be corrected.

For those of you who asked the "what if it were your child" hypothetical - the answer is simple, I would correct the child's confusion gently whenever it comes up - "no, mommy is a girl and you are a boy, just like me" - and more firmly as I saw need to "no, you can't wear a dress because boys use pants". Yes, that includes fighting through a child's tears - it is that important. No, I don't think the dress or the pants are that important - in our culture those articles of clothing are some of the markers for sex differentiation - I think the thing they represent, sex difference, is that important to affirm.

I may come back and see if there any new comments but I don't expect to post here after this monster post.

Cheers to all of you, I don't think this conversation ever degenerated!
Luis

To the bolded: It's interesting that you appreciate that this thread never degenerated and still fail to see how your actions "degenerated" many times to earn you the sanctions you got. Be an adult and accept the consequences of acting like a degenerate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your argument holds some merit from a broad perspective—it’s reasonable to suggest that boys might have a biological advantage in certain athletic events. However, when we look at the actual performance data from NVSL 2025 for the 9–10 age group in the 25-meter butterfly, the gap is far smaller than one might assume.

An analysis of the top 100 times for boys and girls reveals that boys’ average time is just 0.0529 seconds faster than girls’. That’s a mere five-hundredths of a second—a difference so small it’s essentially negligible in the context of summer league swimming.

Here’s a detailed breakdown:

| Tier | Girls’ Avg Time | Boys’ Avg Time | Difference (Girls - Boys) |
| ------- | ---------------- | --------------- | -------------------------- |
| Top 25 | 16.53 s | 16.62 s | -0.087 s |
| Top 50 | 17.14 s | 17.21 s | -0.067 s |
| Top 75 | 17.59 s | 17.63 s | -0.040 s |
| Top 100 | 17.95 s | 18.01 s | -0.053 s |

As the data shows, girls and boys are almost evenly matched, even at the very top. The gender-based performance gap becomes even smaller as the sample size increases, demonstrating that, at this age and in this event, any perceived advantage is statistically insignificant.

Commentary on Your Conduct at the Meet

Regarding how this issue was raised, your behavior, as described in your post, was entirely inappropriate—particularly at a Mini Meet designed to prioritize fun, inclusion, and growth. As a Marshal, your responsibility is to ensure safety and order, not to confront families or unilaterally enforce gender classifications.

Publicly confronting a child’s family, making baseless accusations, and later annotating meet result sheets with the word “boy” showed poor judgment and a serious lack of professionalism. That this occurred in a low-stakes developmental meet only underscores how disproportionate your actions were.

The Board’s decision to suspend your membership is understandable. Frankly, you should consider issuing a formal apology—not only to the participating teams but also to the child and family you targeted. There are respectful and appropriate ways to address concerns, but your approach was neither. Take this as a learning opportunity to reflect and grow from this mistake.

Butterfly doesn't seem like the best event to chose since so many kids have a hard time swimming butterfly. Out of curiosity I looked up the fastest 50 meter free times for NVSL in 2024. So the fastest three girls would be in 3rd, 6th, and 10th place.
29.38 BOY RECORD
29.43 GIRL RECORD

1 Boy 30.15
2 Boy 30.32
3 Girl 31.76 1st Girl
4 Boy 32.00
5 Boy 32.21
6. Girl 32.22 2nd Girl
7. Boy 32.35
8. Boy 32.47
9. Boy 32.57
10. Girl 32.63 3rd Girl
11 Girl 32.76 4th Girl
11 Boy 32.88
12 Boy 32.90
13. Girl 33.08 5th Girl
10 Boy 33.13
11 Boy 33.14
12Boy 33.21
13 Boy 33.22
14 Boy 33.37
15 Boy 33.38
16 Girl 33.52 6th Girl
17 Boy 33.57
18 Boy 33.59
19 Boy 33.61
20 Girl 33.64 7th Girl

[Anonymous]

Op, how would you feel if someone treated your kid in the same way you did? Focus on your own kids. The pool is not comfortable having you there. Find a new pool. Our pool is small and often combines heats with boys and girls. Not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

50 yard free 9-10

1. Boy 30.15
2 Boy 30.25
3. Girl 32.56. 1st Girl
4. Girl 32.65 2nd Girl
5 Boy 32.69
6. Boy 32.91
7 Boy 33.03
8. Girl 33.07 3rd girl
9. Boy 33.25
10. Boy 33.31
11 Boy 33.66

8U 25 Free
1 Boy 15.87
2 Boy 16.19
3. Girl 17.00 1st Girl
4. Girl 17.25 2nd Girl
5. Boy 17.35
6. Boy 17.38
7. Boy 17.85
8. Boy 17.97
9. Boy 18.22
10. Boy 18.25
11. Girl 18.40. 3rd Girl

What is interesting is the 25 yard backstroke the fastest swimmers for 8U were girls
1 Girl 17.81
2 Girl 20.68
3 Girl 21.20
4. Boy 21.25
5. Boy 21.28
6. Girl 21.32

But 25 meters backstroke a boy was faster for 8u
1 Boy 18.62
2. Girl 18.95
3. Boy 19.00
4. Girl 19.71
5. Girl 19.83
6. Boy 20.21

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your posts. I am really glad I posted. I'm going to update the page I created with some of what I say here so that it's easier to reference in the future by any of you or anyone else interested.

There are too many posts to respond individually to each, so I'm going to just respond to some themes.

1. One of the themes raised has been whether I'm seeking attention. The short answer is yes. Here's the long answer:

In the first week after this event, I told very few people about it because I had stayed at the pool long after the meet had finished in order to face any potential consequences for having written the word "boy" on the meet sheets. When none of the officials - three officials closely involved in how things have unfolded stayed after the meet as long as I did, including one Woodley Board member - approached me, I assumed the whole affair was basically dead. And when a week passed with nothing happening, I wasn't thinking about it at all.

Then I learned about Woodley's decision to suspend (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board). At that point my sole goal was to be reinstated. By Jul 23, I still had only shared the story with about ten people who were giving me advice.

On Jul 27, the WRA Board's letter made it obvious that the pool had no intention of treating me fairly (Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board>11 - WRA - Fernandez Clarifying Questions - 27 Jul 2025). At that point, I readjusted my focus and decided to take the advice of one of my close friends to take the story public. He asked me what I wanted to accomplish - I laid out the following objectives which are still accurate. They are in order from the goals I thought I could most effectively impact to least.

Goals
1. Reinstatement to Woodley
2. Changes to Woodley Board make-up, approach, and pool rules
3. Enforcement of boys only in boys events and girls only in girls events at Woodley hosted meets
4. Clarification of NVSL rules and policies to ensure all NVSL pools register their swimmers according to their biological sex and enforce rules around sex differentiated events
5. End gender abuse

My continued public presence is intended to only have limited impact on goals #1 and #2. The point of seeking attention is to try and impact goals #3, #4, and #5. This entire thread is focused on achieving #4 - even if some of you who disagree with me on the issue of so-called "trans girls" competing as girls can help, partially. If you also ask NVSL to clarify its rules, we'll all know what we are signing up for.

2. Another theme concerned my focus on NVSL when the meet was run by Woodley.

The Meet Host cited NVSL rules when we were talking, so even if NVSL was not involved in this meet, each pool registered their swimmers and officials were instructed to officiate according to NVSL guidelines. Also since we have our kids on the Woodley Swim Team, we want to know what rules NVSL will enforce. Believe it or not, I don't want to have a repeat of this incident.

3. The question was raised (in different ways) how should the sex rules be enforced?

I don't think we need adults to scan bodies. It'll be annoying, but it now seems necessary, that we will need pools to use a birth certificate or a walker ID to register their children. Other leagues require these kinds of government issued identification documents; I see no reason NVSL couldn't require the same.

4. Someone else defended me already, but on the issue of whether I was doing anything untoward with respect to noticing that there was a boy in the event, I'll just say that you don't have to be closely inspecting something to notice that something is wrong or different or strange. I think people criticizing me for this are being silly and disingenuous.

5. Switching gears - some of you said that I'm harming the pool I claim to love by keeping the pool in the public eye.

Yea, I think you have a point, and I did consider this before I went to the press and I continue to consider this problem. I'll say a few things:
- I think the "threat" to the pool is exaggerated. I don't think there's good evidence showing that conservatives are especially violent, though I assume a lot of people have created a nuisance for the pool.
- the pool acted in bad faith, first, and I had and continue to have limited recourse, if you haven't read through the Woodley Suspension>Exchange with the Board then I think you're missing a key part of the story.
- I already made this point earlier, but once the pool effectively made the path to reinstatement very narrow, then it made a lot more sense to try to pursue the other goals on my list

6. I thought the best comments concerned my act of vigilantism

- I actually agree with many of the statements made in this thread - I admit that everything I did after raising the issue with the officials was taking matters in my own hands. I also agree that I should face consequences commensurate with those actions. Note that I returned to the pool and stayed long after the meet was over precisely to face the consequences of my actions.
- Here's the problem - at the meet, apart from asking me to leave the deck no one said anything. After the meet, no one said anything to me despite significant opportunity. A week later at a different pool, no one said anything to me. Even now, the Woodley Board isn't citing any of the acts of vigilantism being cited in this thread as the reason for my suspension! The Woodley Board is citing aggressive behavior - which NEVER happened. The consequences - complete suspension - don't match either the false accusation (aggressive behavior) or the actual crime (vigilantism).
- I don't think speaking with the spectators was vigilantism. I deny that I embarrassed them - the three women were standing close together and there was no one else around. I do agree that it was outside my duties as a marshal - but that doesn't make it vigilantism. I was attempting to challenge their world view in the most effective way I could think of for the moment.
- I think the only act of vigilantism that deserves consequences is writing the word "boy" on the meet sheets, but I still don't even think anyone knew I'd done that until I told the Daily Wire. I mention this in my account of the events, but the marker I used was horrible, so I still think that that little bit of vigilantism was remarkably impotent.
- You are right that I think the deeper gender issue (#5 on my "goals" list, less so the fair sport issue - #3 and #4 on my list) is important enough to have attempted some vigilante justice.

OK, to wrap up my side, I want to respond to one of the posters who was kind enough to respond to my request for more substantive criticism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You were wrong about everything. You had zero authority to do what you did.

- long time swim mom who is against trans girls competing with cis gender girls.

You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?

I address my authority (or lack thereof) to act here: Woodley Suspension>Luis'Account>Speaking to the Offending Team>My Thoughts.

I'd be interested to hear how you've handled similar situations or if you haven't encountered similar situations, how you expect to change the current landscape vis a vis "trans girls competing with cis gender girls". For other readers, I suggest that you can avoid situations like mine by acting now and writing to your pool and league governing boards.

Jeez, you seriously need help.

1. You cursed. You claim it could have happened but don’t think so…and someone else says it did. Their memory stands uncontroverted.

2. You wrote “boy” on the results on the sheet for all to see.

3. You criticized mom and grandma publicly.

4. You took matters into your own hands when you did not like the result of your reporting.

5. There is not even independent confirmation (not from you) as to this kid’s gender.

Luis, you wrote me: “You seem to agree with me on the underlying issue; if so, how can I be wrong about everything?”

I responded with the 5 specifics above. Since I took the time to answer you, please give me the courtesy of directly responding to every point I made.

1. I agree that I should not have cursed. I was frustrated at the situation, but you are right that I should not have done that. Note that the only specific example of cursing comes from my own testimony - the Woodley Board has not provided any specific accusation about my language. Read or re-read the exchange.

2. I agree that was an act of vigilantism that should carry consequences - though as I pointed out above, I still think that no one actually noticed that. The Woodley Board certainly didn't mention it. If you read my exchange with the Board, you'll see that the first time they say anything specific about their accusation is in their public statement to the entire pool membership AFTER I went to the press. In other words, the Board is being much less forthcoming than I have been - I'd love to know if the posters in this thread reserve any criticism for the Board's actions.

3. I did no such thing. I am confident no one overheard me asking those three women my three questions.

4. Yes, I think I've addressed my motivation. At the end of this post I'll just say a few words about why I care so much about the gender issue.

5. That's true - I don't think we'll get it, though, and I've addressed my thoughts on this Woodley Suspension>FAQ>What if you are mistaken that the “boy” was in fact a girl?

So, I think you and I are actually not so far off. I think the big differences are that I think the issue (#5 in my "goals" list, less #3 or #4) justifies the vigilantism and I think the consequences leveled by the pool are disproportionate to that act - not least because the pool hasn't even identified vigilantism or the underlying gender issue as the reason for my suspension, but rather this bogeyman of aggressive behavior.

Thanks again for engaging me in this thread. It was useful to me to read the comments. I hope it's been useful to you to read my responses and to read each others arguments. I'll close with a few words on the gender issue.

Our bodies are sexed at conception - we cannot divorce our humanity from our sex. The impact of this fact, or assertion, is that anything that casts doubt on the reality of sex ultimately casts doubt on our humanity. A person that questions his own humanity cannot live an integral life, cannot have fulfillment, and is ultimately doomed - he knows not the purpose of his existence because his very existence is subject to doubt. For this reason, anyone who confuses a child, purposely or accidentally, needs to be corrected.

For those of you who asked the "what if it were your child" hypothetical - the answer is simple, I would correct the child's confusion gently whenever it comes up - "no, mommy is a girl and you are a boy, just like me" - and more firmly as I saw need to "no, you can't wear a dress because boys use pants". Yes, that includes fighting through a child's tears - it is that important. No, I don't think the dress or the pants are that important - in our culture those articles of clothing are some of the markers for sex differentiation - I think the thing they represent, sex difference, is that important to affirm.

I may come back and see if there any new comments but I don't expect to post here after this monster post.

Cheers to all of you, I don't think this conversation ever degenerated!
Luis

I am the poster you specifically responded to and I appreciate it. You continue to think that bc the people at the meet said nothing to you they saw you wrote “boy” on the results and you faced no consequences or they didn’t see it (which you seem to think you writing that was harmless). In fact, the volunteers at the meet should also not be determining your fate even if they are on the board, as it is a bigger event requiring input from many.

Your actions were abhorrent and maybe you can see things better with this example:

At a swim meet for special needs kids, you are a marshal whose job is to say “shhhh” Or “walk around this way” or “no running on deck” and you see a kid who you alone assume is able bodied and write on the results sheet “not disabled” or “able bodied.”

My guess is you can see how offensive and wrong this is. Even if the kid was able bodied, it is not for you to be judge, jury and executioner. You deserve to lose your membership. You are a loose canon and can’t be trusted. You are standing by how you acted and reacted and have no ability to self reflect. If this child is a biological boy, it is not only NOT up to you alone to change how the child was entered in the meet, but is not up you in any way. Are you seriously trying to hang your hat on being a lowly marshal as giving you authority? If this child is a biological girl, same thing…except now you’ve added another layer of offensiveness.

We have an orderly society and do not allow people to make decisions that impact others no matter how much it may offend our morals, beliefs, or values. You do not act like that nor do you believe that.

I wish your kids the best but your inability to recognize your failings makes me think in 20+ years, they may post online asking for strangers to support their very wrong actions.

[Anonymous]

The pool had had to close and the staff dealt with threats and your response is that you don't think conservatives are violent? Have you been living in a bunker for the past two decades?

And I doubt you have had to deal with a fraction of what those kids working at the pool have had to deal with. You voluntarily came into this space and got called a creep. Those kids almost certainly got death threats, because YOU ran to a right wing conspiracy website.

I don't give a fig about anything you say. You 100% knew what you were doing and made that choice.