The road so far...

News broke in September 2022 about a Vermont High School, where Blake and other girls were being punished for feeling uncomfortable with the trans student in the girls locker room.

The drama started when the trans student made an inappropriate comment while members of the volleyball team were getting changed. It's unclear what the inappropriate comment was. The rules get murky because if a cisgendered male made those comments, that male would be expelled from school. But since it's a transgender female, the cisgender females are at fault for not having a sense of humor.

I feel like for stating my opinion -- that I don’t want a biological man changing with me -- that I should not have harassment charges or bullying charges. They should all be dropped.

The news was broken by local news outlet WCAX-3. They were bullied into removing the story by activists and told a different news outlet they were "working with LGBTQ advocates on a message to the community acknowledging the harm that was caused."

Other students have spoken out and said the incident isn't solely with the one trans student. Anyone is allowed to use the girls' locker room AND bathrooms.

In a locker room it's made specifically for girls and so having a male with a penis in there it just felt wrong...[the school said] I should go somewhere else if I feel uncomfortable. ... They didn't identify as trans. They said that they were gay so that they weren't attracted to me so they were allowed in [the girls' bathroom].

“Resounding victory for freedom of speech.”

As a part of the settlement:

• The Allen family gets $125,000.
• Travis Allen gets reinstated to his job.
• Blake has her permanent record scrubbed of any punishment.
• The school must remove any social media content showing "love and support" to the beautiful and brave trans student in question.

The school claims the settlement does NOT admit any wrongdoing, and that they just wanted to put the issue behind them. Alliance Defending Freedom's Phil Sechler, who defended the Allen family, feels otherwise:

The settlement of Blake and Travis Allen’s case is a resounding victory for freedom of speech. Calling a male a male shouldn’t have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school.

It will be interesting to see if this sets a precedence. Blake is not the only girl who thinks it's wrong for girls to be made uncomfortable in their locker room by students with male genitalia. Nor is she the only one facing disciplinary action, since "trans" remains ranked number one on the left's Pound-for-Pound Most Marginalized Rankings. Teenage girls, particularly those who play sports, have fallen out of the top ten.