By admin 
An adult who makes a child’s life miserable doesn’t deserve to have a job working around children.
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And yet, that’s what a new lawsuit, filed by the mother of a 16-year-old, local transgender girl, claims happened here in Sacramento. The girl rowed with the Capital Crew youth program at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center until anti-transgender harassment forced her to quit.
Two men who coached the team, Rich Wendling and Brian Birch, are accused of subjecting the girl to discrimination after responding to a parent who questioned why a “boy” was on the rowing team, according to the lawsuit.
The allegations in the suit are heartbreaking: Only 12 years old when the harassment began, the girl was subject to false rumors, excluded from team meetings and regularly misgendered. She says her only friend was threatened to not hang out with her, and other girls on the rowing team were encouraged to treat her poorly.
“The reason why this case is important, because at issue in this complaint, is the treatment of a child,” said Susie Cirilli, the lawyer who is representing the child and her mother, and who has represented transgender athletes in several lawsuits, including one against the NCAA.
The Capital Crew competitive youth rowing program is under the Sacramento State Aquatic Center but separate from Sac State’s intercollegiate athletics program. The aquatic center is run by the Associated Students and The University Union, both university auxiliaries, along with the California Division of Boating and Waterways and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
“For over a year, this child was left unprotected while the people in charge — when not actively engaging in the hostility themselves — condoned the unlawful harassment that was being committed by the other girls on the rowing team,” Cirilli told The Bee.
That kind of harassment and trauma have long and abiding effects on a child’s mental and physical health, exactly the opposite of the enormous good playing youth sports usually provides.
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According to a 2021 study by the Center for American Progress, transgender youth already face high rates of family rejection, violence, discrimination and suicide due to the stigma of their gender identity. Almost 44 percent of transgender children in America — compared to just 16 percent of cisgender children — reported considering suicide within the previous year.
Transgender children want to play sports for the same reason other kids do: To be a part of a team, to feel like they belong and to have fun. Who are we, as adults, to take that opportunity away from them? We have a responsibility to be leaders when dealing with our community’s youth, and to create welcoming spaces for everyone, regardless of personal beliefs or opinions.
If you can’t do that, then stay out of coaching youth sports, or leading any other children’s activity.
It is true that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can bar transgender athletes from participating in school sports. But as The Bee reported, that ruling is not mandatory, and the state of California allows transgender athletes to compete in sports consistent with their gender identity.
If the allegations are true, then these coaches failed in their jobs. Even if you believe transgender children should not compete in sports, that should never give adults the license to humiliate, isolate or mistreat a child in their care.
Transgender children deserve to play on the same teams as their friends, to belong to a group, and learn teamwork, discipline and healthy habits. Capital Crew, the Sacramento State Aquatic Center, Sacramento State’s Associated Students and the university itself, have a responsibility to ensure that all athletes playing under their banner feel safe and supported.
Coaches and teachers don’t have to be political activists, but they do have to act like adults.
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