• We were told our daughters would be safe.
• We were told “transwomen” wouldn’t be inappropriate in locker rooms, showers, and restrooms. We were told no one is taking advantage of female-only sports. We were told there’s no difference between “transwomen” and females.
• We were told to shut up, know our place, and include biological males.
• We were told to embrace misogyny and sexism.

A biological male known as Lazuli Clark, who plays on the female basketball, volleyball, and track & field teams at KIPP Academy in Massachusetts, was suspended from the female-only rowing team after a girl accused him of leering at her breasts in a locker room.

By the way, this is the same biological male who injured three females during a basketball game, causing the team to forfeit.

Clark is 6’0″ and has facial hair.

He also participates in tae kwon do and rowing, which are not at the school. In track & field, he competes in two events where that Y chromosome really helps, especially after puberty: hurdles and shot put.

Quillette received a copy of a complaint sent to the United States Rowing Association (USRowing) in October 2022. Over 15 parents signed the complaint:

Our daughters have stayed quiet because they are afraid. We tried to speak up for them, and we were shut down. We tried to speak to leadership at all levels. [But] name-calling and the threat of mental health is being used as emotional blackmail to keep us all quiet while women are harmed and devalued…Our daughters also faced a locker room situation where they were uncomfortable…They stopped changing in the locker room and began to hide away. These young girls should never have been put through being told they had to face a male body everyday as they undressed…It was a constant thought, a constant threat to submit and a constant awareness. Yet they dared not say anything (except privately to their parents). The rowing team also required the male athlete to room with them on trips. The girls spoke to us about quitting rowing because of the intimidation of being forced to be in a hotel room alone with a male.

Clark joined the female team because, you guessed it, he STUNK on the male team (emphasis mine):

In an interview with Quillette, one of the signatories reported that Clark joined the female rowing club in 2021, after placing poorly (“near the bottom,” by this parent’s account) with the club’s corresponding male team. Clark reportedly didn’t bother to shave or otherwise maintain the outward aesthetic pretenses of female gender identification, and even continued to wear the male club’s uniform.

In one documented 2022 incident, it is alleged, Clark walked into the girls’ changing room, spotted a female rower who was topless, and made a lewd comment about her breasts (“Oooh, titties”). As a result, documents reviewed by Quillette indicate, Clark was reported by team officials to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a congressionally mandated body dedicated to “ending sexual, physical, and emotional abuse on behalf of athletes everywhere.” After SafeSport took action in late 2022, Clark never rowed for the club again—in either gender category. (Efforts to contact Clark or adult members of Clark’s family about these allegations, as well as other events described in this article, were unsuccessful.)

If KIPP Academy knew about this complaint and kept him on the team…oh, boy. LITERALLY.

The complaint became public in a March 2024 report by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The members have been investigating a federal law pushed by the Biden administration that forces female-only sports to include biological males.

The report said (emphasis mine):

during the course of this investigation, Committee staff discovered a direct case of harassment involving Massachusetts youth in a private, free-standing rowing league whose policies are governed by [USRowing]. In Massachusetts and New England, competitive rowing occurs mainly via private leagues, as it is too expensive for high schools to offer. According to a parent who spoke with Committee staff, a male athlete was allowed to join the women’s varsity crew team, which caused many issues for the female athletes. The male athlete was also allowed to use the women’s locker room in accordance with [USRowing] policy. [As a result, many] female athletes avoided using the locker room, but nonetheless a few months later, the male athlete was caught staring openly at one of the female athletes while she changed her clothes in the women’s locker room, and remarked, [REDACTED]. When a female athlete nearby asked if it was the first time he had seen female breasts, the male responded, “uhh yeah” with a laugh. The male athlete was suspended for this incident.

USRowing still allows men to join the female categories. One parent remains concerned about the policy, even though Clark is gone.

I wonder if KIPP Academy knew about the complaint and kept Clark on the female only teams:

While many public news accounts of Clark’s exploits use “she” and “her” descriptors, a Saugus, MA-based Tae Kwon Do studio recently appears to have described Clark, who is apparently a “black belt student,” as “them,” suggesting a non-binary identity.)

These include volleyball, a sport in which the high-school senior was named a Commonwealth Atlantic Conference “all-star.” According to KIPP Academy Lynn statistics, Clark scored more kills during the 2023-24 volleyball season (171) than the rest of the team (131) combined. (A kill is defined as “an attack by a player that is not returnable by the receiving player on the opposing team and leads directly to a point or loss of rally.”) Clark also led the team in aces and blocked shots, and was tied for the team lead in total sets played, at 68. That makes 68 sets during which one of Clark’s female teammates was warming the bench while this biologically male athlete was racking up kills during KIPP’s 22-game schedule.

Overall, Clark’s volleyball team went 13-and-9 during its 2023-24 season. How many of those 13 victories were owed to the inclusion of a male athlete on KIPP’s roster? We don’t know, in large part because MIAA rules require that students generally “shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.” In light of this policy, many female athletes—as well as coaches and parents—are presumably concerned that voicing their frustrations and fears will earn them accusations of bigotry.

On May 30, 2023, Clark competed—as a female—in Lynn, MA’s All-City Track Championship, setting the all-time meet record (for females) in the 400-meter hurdles and shot put. Clark’s average shot-put distance of 41 feet, 2 inches was more than six feet longer than any female participant achieved at the 2023 state championship in the corresponding division. In both track categories, Clark’s female competitors were bumped down in the rankings as a result. That would include the female athletes who deserved to take first place in hurdles and shot put, but who instead had to console themselves with second.

This is why, including him injuring three girls during a basketball game, a teenage female athlete close to me told me she’s second-guessing playing sports in high school.

Male athlete Lazuli Clark of KIPP Academy excels as a 3-sport athlete in girls’ sports:
🏀 Girls’ basketball: playoff bound
🏐 Girls’ volleyball: League All-Star led the team in kills, aces & digs
👟 Girls’ track & field: set meet records in 400m hurdles & shot put at the Lynn… https://t.co/hgA7HG1SrI pic.twitter.com/5QaSBXXSzf

— ICONS (@icons_women) February 22, 2024

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