Woodley pool suspends member over transgender swimmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

Got it. Clear rule: don't be a dick to guests and little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

Forget nvsl. Forget USA swimming. This was a very informal meet for 10u that are pre swim team. This is as informal and meaningless as it gets in terms of competition. There’s no way he wasn’t aware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

yes, and no. When asked they have stated that they follow USA swimming policies. However, this is not openly stated in the NVSL handbook or on their website, and I agree they need to be more upfront about their policy to remove any questions.

It makes sense for NVSL to follow USA swimming as NVSL is a volunteer run organization and not one full of medical professionals. So best to leave it to a governing body that has the resources to get appropriate information to make their stance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there literally any proof that this even happened?

I think we're well beyond that - please try to keep up.

DP, but we are actually not well beyond that. Thus far, everyone in this thread is reacting to a piece of propaganda that is intended to manufacture threads like this one. Even assuming that every factual claim in the piece is true, we are missing important information. As was -- in all likelihood -- this gentleman.

That has nothing to do with PP's statement which was casting doubt that the episode even happened. As I said, we're well beyond that.

You points to the matter of not all the details are known, which I don't disagree with, implicitly acknowledges that it happened.

So yes, it happened. Probably not exactly as was presented in the article but other than PP, I don't think anyone else is saying that "it didn't happen".

You are missing some important nuance and you are quibbling about an epistemological threshold that is beside the point. What I am trying to explain to you is that the OP's original comment (viz., we don't know if this even happened) is much closer to correct than you think; I would not accept the time and temperature from this particular publication without third-party verification.

This publication and others are playing a very particular game: cherry-pick slivers of a story that have potential to inflame > publish something that is maximally inflammatory without doing actual journalism > coordinate on the virality boost > hope that threads like this one take off, based entirely on the article's framing.

A little bit of shoe leather often utterly exposes the game (if you have ever gotten mad on the internet about the trans athlete issue in either direction, this podcast is worth your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQsCA5ugfKc). It is already happening in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does WW swim give out awards to its parent volunteers? I bet he got the transgressor paper plate award!

A-hole bigots should be kicked out of their pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

yes, and no. When asked they have stated that they follow USA swimming policies. However, this is not openly stated in the NVSL handbook or on their website, and I agree they need to be more upfront about their policy to remove any questions.

It makes sense for NVSL to follow USA swimming as NVSL is a volunteer run organization and not one full of medical professionals. So best to leave it to a governing body that has the resources to get appropriate information to make their stance.

PP here and exactly. The USA swimming rule for "non elite" swimmers is to emphasize inclusion and to allow swimmers to swim with the group that aligns with their gender expression. If NVSL had more clearly adopted that rule, put it on the website, and included it in the parent handbook, I think one of two things would have happened:

1) Fernandez would still have thrown a fit, but he would have thrown it at NVSL instead of at a child at a meet. Which is vastly preferable. If you are going to have this kind of confrontation over trans kids, better to do it at a meeting of adults or via emails and letters, than in the middle of a family event with a child in the middle.

2) Fernandez would have raised the issue at the meet and the meet organizers would have been able to cite both the NVSL website and the parent handbook in order to shut him up. I know some people think he still would have made a stink and that's possible, but I don't think so. Parents sign paperwork saying they will abide by the rules of the league at the beginning of the summer. He would have been upset, but if the rule was clear it would really limit what he can do and say in that situation. He can always take up his objections with the league later.

Basically I'm advocating for the idea that sports organizations cannot try to sidestep the issue of trans athletes. It doesn't protect anyone and I think it actually increases the likelihood of these kind of incidents. Adopt the best possible rules you can, balancing fairness to all participants and also a desire to be inclusive and create a place for all kids to participate in sports. Create venues for people to raise objections and be ready to explain the rules. But don't hide behind vague language, lack of clear rules, or inconsistent application based on ad hoc processes that lack transparency. all of that will make this problem worse, not better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

yes, and no. When asked they have stated that they follow USA swimming policies. However, this is not openly stated in the NVSL handbook or on their website, and I agree they need to be more upfront about their policy to remove any questions.

It makes sense for NVSL to follow USA swimming as NVSL is a volunteer run organization and not one full of medical professionals. So best to leave it to a governing body that has the resources to get appropriate information to make their stance.

PP here and exactly. The USA swimming rule for "non elite" swimmers is to emphasize inclusion and to allow swimmers to swim with the group that aligns with their gender expression. If NVSL had more clearly adopted that rule, put it on the website, and included it in the parent handbook, I think one of two things would have happened:

1) Fernandez would still have thrown a fit, but he would have thrown it at NVSL instead of at a child at a meet. Which is vastly preferable. If you are going to have this kind of confrontation over trans kids, better to do it at a meeting of adults or via emails and letters, than in the middle of a family event with a child in the middle.

2) Fernandez would have raised the issue at the meet and the meet organizers would have been able to cite both the NVSL website and the parent handbook in order to shut him up. I know some people think he still would have made a stink and that's possible, but I don't think so. Parents sign paperwork saying they will abide by the rules of the league at the beginning of the summer. He would have been upset, but if the rule was clear it would really limit what he can do and say in that situation. He can always take up his objections with the league later.

Basically I'm advocating for the idea that sports organizations cannot try to sidestep the issue of trans athletes. It doesn't protect anyone and I think it actually increases the likelihood of these kind of incidents. Adopt the best possible rules you can, balancing fairness to all participants and also a desire to be inclusive and create a place for all kids to participate in sports. Create venues for people to raise objections and be ready to explain the rules. But don't hide behind vague language, lack of clear rules, or inconsistent application based on ad hoc processes that lack transparency. all of that will make this problem worse, not better.

I understand what you're getting at, NVSL policy is beside the point here. This was not an NVSL sanctioned meet. It was a friendly fun meet for anyone 10 & under to participate in whether they were on the swim team or not.

[Anonymous]

This isn't even an NVSL thing. It's related to the pool only. Bring it up with the pool which is a private club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where or no trans athletes should or shouldn't be allowed to compete is a separate issue and whole other discussion. The way he handled it was 100% inappropriate.

What if I disagree with the NVSL policy on age and think kids should age up on their birthday. Would it be appropriate for me to call out a kid swimming in the "wrong" age group? Would it be appropriate for me to go over to the results and write 11 next to the 10 yr old or 19 next to the 18 yr old? Would it be ok for me to yell bullsh*t when a 15 yr old beat my kid in a 13-14 race? Should I demand the birth certificate of every kid who looks older than their stated age?

I agree this guy way overreacted, but I don't think your analogy is perfect because there is a clear, bright line rule for when kids age up in summer swim. Yes, some people don't agree with it, but it's not a confusing or hard to apply rule. So someone doing what you describe would be completely in the wrong because they just don't like the rule.

The question of which group trans girls should swim in is not clear and NVSL has been trying to sidestep it, and incidents like this become inevitable as a result. Because yes, some people are jerks and hotheads. But also because if there is no clear rule, people will try to impose clarity in one direction or another. If the child in question was in fact trans (we don't even know, which is part of the problem with what Fernandez did), their parents made the decision to sign them up to swim as a girl potentially without checking with anyone. Or they checked with someone and the person said, "yeah okay that makes sense" because it made sense to them. But you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that this is a more touchy issue for a lot of people, and it would just be much easier if there was a clear rule. Even if the rule was "In mini meets, exhibitions, and other non-competitive swimming events, swimmers may swim in the category that matches their gender identification regardless of sex assigned at birth." Personally, I'd be fine with that rule! But having it made clear would also make it possible to tell someone like Fernandez, "this is the rule, we all agreed to them when decided to participate" and he'd have to shut up.

Not having clear rules and communicating them to all participants is going to keep leading to incidents like this. It's not going to get better. Especially because way more people feel as Fernandez does on this issue than a lot of people understand. If you look at polling on this issue, the majority of people are not comfortable with trans girls competing against biological girls in athletic competitions. So there are a lot of Fernandezes out there and they are not just going to be quiet and deal. These issues need to be addressed directly.

yes, and no. When asked they have stated that they follow USA swimming policies. However, this is not openly stated in the NVSL handbook or on their website, and I agree they need to be more upfront about their policy to remove any questions.

It makes sense for NVSL to follow USA swimming as NVSL is a volunteer run organization and not one full of medical professionals. So best to leave it to a governing body that has the resources to get appropriate information to make their stance.

PP here and exactly. The USA swimming rule for "non elite" swimmers is to emphasize inclusion and to allow swimmers to swim with the group that aligns with their gender expression. If NVSL had more clearly adopted that rule, put it on the website, and included it in the parent handbook, I think one of two things would have happened:

1) Fernandez would still have thrown a fit, but he would have thrown it at NVSL instead of at a child at a meet. Which is vastly preferable. If you are going to have this kind of confrontation over trans kids, better to do it at a meeting of adults or via emails and letters, than in the middle of a family event with a child in the middle.

2) Fernandez would have raised the issue at the meet and the meet organizers would have been able to cite both the NVSL website and the parent handbook in order to shut him up. I know some people think he still would have made a stink and that's possible, but I don't think so. Parents sign paperwork saying they will abide by the rules of the league at the beginning of the summer. He would have been upset, but if the rule was clear it would really limit what he can do and say in that situation. He can always take up his objections with the league later.

Basically I'm advocating for the idea that sports organizations cannot try to sidestep the issue of trans athletes. It doesn't protect anyone and I think it actually increases the likelihood of these kind of incidents. Adopt the best possible rules you can, balancing fairness to all participants and also a desire to be inclusive and create a place for all kids to participate in sports. Create venues for people to raise objections and be ready to explain the rules. But don't hide behind vague language, lack of clear rules, or inconsistent application based on ad hoc processes that lack transparency. all of that will make this problem worse, not better.

I understand what you're getting at, NVSL policy is beside the point here. This was not an NVSL sanctioned meet. It was a friendly fun meet for anyone 10 & under to participate in whether they were on the swim team or not.

+1,000,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't even an NVSL thing. It's related to the pool only. Bring it up with the pool which is a private club.

Where his wife is on the Board!

[Anonymous]

I'm sure she will be popular. They both sound domineering if the wife is on the board and they have an under 10 child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure she will be popular. They both sound domineering if the wife is on the board and they have an under 10 child.

They have six children. They should just start their own swim team. It’s the only fair resolution.

[Anonymous]

Are they all 8 and under? Why are they so clueless about how swimming works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they all 8 and under? Why are they so clueless about how swimming works?

No. Not clueless. Just want to push their agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how Fernandez handled this.

However, I also don't like how the team or meet organizers handled it, or how NVSL handled it. This is not a situation you can just pretend is not happening. It is happening. There are trans girls competing as girls in sex-segregated sports, and it is raising an issue of fairness.

The sports were sex segregated for a reason. It wasn't arbitrary. We cannot pretend suddenly that it *is* arbitrary because that makes it easier to tell the family of the trans girl "yes, of course she can swim in the girls category! we don't care!" Some people do care. And if, as in this case, the trans girl goes on to win, many people will view this as unfair to the biological girls who lost to someone who is making an affirmative choice to identify as a girl. A choice those girls didn't have.

This is where the progressive stance on trans girls in sports lose me. We cannot just pretend there isn't a problem here. And we can't just act like pointing out the problem immediately makes you a bigot.

If this wasn't a problem, there would be no sex segregation in sports to begin with.

I think we can agree Fernandez acted inappropriately. He was acting as the marshal--holding the quiet sign and directing traffic. He had concerns and raised them to the referee (final arbiter of the rules) and the team reps (the meet managers responsible for the meet). At no point whole serving as an Official should he have engaged with the parents of the swimmer to criticize, belittle, or swear at them. And as an Official, he certainly shouldn't have added anything to the results sheets. The pool took action based on his actions towards their guests.

Agree completely he can object to girls swimming in boys heats and vice versa, and he did. He's wrong for how he handled it, not the objections themselves. Actions have consequences.

People go outside the system when the system promotes unfairness. They don’t protest unfairness in the system in ways that are neat and tidy.

So long as state and organizational power promotes an elitist and top-down belief system that is perceived as extremely unfair, people will continue to protest in ways that are “inappropriate.”

Is this a real response or are you purposefully trying to be inflammatory? Fernandez was wrong for how he handled it, plain and simple. This was a b-meet in the summer, with summer parent volunteers in Division 14 of the NVSL. Let's apply some common sense and decency here. This isn't state action with elitist approaches--volunteers doing their best and he was a jackass.

We can have the conversation on how leagues should handle trans swimming and registration, but for this instance Fernandez was wrong for his actions, not his objections.

Of course it is a real response, and I think you’d be surprised to find how far in the minority of people outside of power you are in insisting that he was wrong in how he handled it.

And the problem with the bolded is that by demanding that objections only happen at vague undefined “conversations,” you really want to shut all conversations down entirely. That’s what’s happened on this issue this far. The top-down, state-backed organizations have bottled all conversations entirely.

When dissent isn’t permitted, protestors find ways to protest that aren’t official. That is the history of civil disobedience in this country, and especially tactics that campaigners for women’s rights have always been forced to use.

We are talking about an adult male verbally abusing a little girl at a swimming pool. That's not "civil disobedience."

DP. The article didn’t mention him saying anything directly to the child. He spoke up to other adults. And also apparently it was a little boy, not a little girl.

The article, which is incredibly biased in his favor, says that he altered the records with the results. Is there any other circumstance in which an adult altering meet records in a race that their child swam in, to give the appearance that his child finished higher than they did, would continue to be welcome as an official?

The article also implies that there is disagreement about what was said, how loud it was said, etc . . . but altering the record seems to be something that he admits to.

Civil rights advocacy isn’t usually nice and pretty. Read some history.

If you have to quote history being on your side or civil disobedience to justify being rude to a parent or mean to a kid at a summer b-meet, you've already lost the argument. Quit tilting at windmills.

“Don’t be mean” and “be kind” were used to try to shut down suffragettes too. It’s a weaponization of women’s socialization to be accommodating to men. And that is exactly what is going on with the issue of trans girls in girls’ sports: girls are being told to accommodate the superior interests of boys to “be kind.” It is a shockingly regressive approach.

Is it great that he acted the way he did? Probably not when taken in isolation. But it is very common in the history of fighting for women’s progress and rights that women and their advocates are described as “mean,” the b-word, “aggressive,” “unkind,” etc. when they fight outside the system to defend girls and women. He would have made no progress whatsoever going through the approved “kind” channels where women patiently wait their turns for crumbs of rights to be doled out to them after men get what they want.

We all know how this would have ended if he had gone through “proper” channels. Likely it would have still resulted in him getting kicked out, but without any larger discussion. It would have been silenced, brushed over, etc.

There are a lot of facts missing in this story. We don’t know what really happened. There are no videos circulating. But I can pretty much guarantee that things like this are going to happen again and again because increasingly large numbers of people feel organizations are not listening and are prioritizing boys over girls.