Whatever the choice of subject, there’s a local My Turn writer who manages to include her personal bias against the LGBTQ+ community. Carol Pomeroy writes a rebuttal that includes her personal opinion as well as fact checks.

A recent My Turn article continued to disparage Senate candidate Roy Cooper, based on the president’s talking points without providing any facts or detail. One such example continues to show personal bias against the LGBTQIA+ community and the belief that they should not be granted the same basic human rights that benefit wealthy white people the most in this country. Each person has the right to believe anything he/she wants and to practice any religion (or not) but Christian Nationalists do not have the right to force their beliefs on others or make their beliefs the law of the land. “There is a state-sponsored form of Christianity and then there is a Jesus-inspired form of Christianity – Choose wisely.” (Stephen Mattson). Remember Constitutional Amendment One – Separation of church and state.

When anyone makes the argument that homosexuality is a choice, I respond as follows. “If you think that homosexually is a choice, then being a heterosexual must also be a choice. When did you make the choice to become a heterosexual?”

One example of no facts or detail was in reference to (in author’s own words), “Payton McNabb, an N.C. high schooler who suffered permanent brain injury when a boy who felt like a girl spiked a volleyball into her head.” This injury occurred on 9/1/22, when Miss Payton was a junior at Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, N.C.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) is the governing organization of high school athletics in North Carolina. It was founded in 1913 by Dr. Louis Round Wilson. On 5/1/19, the NCHSAA Board of Directors voted to approve a transgender inclusion policy in high school athletics. For this to happen, a Gender Identity Request Form had to be submitted by the member school to the NCHSAA. 

Students who wished to submit a Gender Identity Request form had to provide supporting documents that included parental permission, contacts who could affirm the student’s gender identification, a list of treatments and medications relative to gender identity, interventions that occurred relative to gender identity and written verification from a medical professional.

Once the documentation was received, the NCHSAA Gender Identity Committee would consider the request based on its own professionals including an independent physician and a mental health professional. This policy was put in place and carefully followed four years before North Carolina HB574 Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was vetoed by then Governor Roy Cooper on 7/5/23 and his veto overturned on 8/16/23 by the Republican super majority in the N.C. House and Senate. 

Between 2019 and 2023, 16 transgender boys and two transgender girls submitted Gender Identity Request Forms to play on sports teams that aligned with their gender identity. Of the 16 transgender boys, 13 were approved to play. The two trans girls were approved, one in the 2019-20 school year and the other in the 2021-22 school year. Approval does not guarantee that either one actually played. 

I don’t dispute the fact that Payton McNabb suffered an accidental head injury from a spiked volleyball from someone on the opposing team. I can’t say or verify that Payton McNabb did not receive this injury from a trans woman and that she suffered permanent brain injury as a result. It is possible that the symptoms of a permanent brain injury do not show up until years later, but based on facts I do have my doubts.

Only one trans girl was approved to play on a girl’s high school sport’s team in 2022 that included all different sports, not just volleyball. All the sports at all high schools in North Carolina are governed by the NCHSAA. Out of all the high schools in North Carolina, what are the odds that this one trans girl actually played volleyball instead of some other sport and was on the opposing team at Hiwassee Dam High School on 9/1/22?

McNabb said that she suffered permanent brain injury and partial paralysis as a result of the volleyball incident but she continued to play competitive, varsity-level high school basketball and softball just a few months after the volleyball incident. Head injuries are the second most common injuries among high school and college female volleyball players. Between 2012 and 2021, there were 4.3 head injuries per 100 players for girls between the ages of 14 and 18. 

It’s also been proved that Payton McNabb exacerbated some of the details in telling her story. She claimed that the ball that hit her in the face was clocked at 70 miles an hour. That is practically impossible to accomplish unless you are a medaled Olympic athlete.

Carol Pomeroy