A Maine high school student has opened up on the ‘heartbreak’ of competing against transgender rivals – and why the state must comply with Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’.
Cassidy Carlisle has detailed how she was just 13 years old when she had to change in the same locker room as a biological male.
‘That was really my first experience in just knowing that something isn’t right, but not knowing what to do with that,’ Carlisle told Fox News, claiming that she was told that if she tried to avoid sharing the locker room with them, she could be late for class.
During her junior year of high school, Carline discovered she would be racing against a transgender athlete as part of Maine’s Nordic skiing team.
‘I was like: “Oh, that’s only something I kind of hear about on the news. … it’s not going to happen to me”,’ she said.
‘The defeat that comes with that in that moment is heartbreaking,’ Carlisle continued. ‘I’m just in shock in a way. I didn’t believe it. … I didn’t think it was happening to me.’
Cassidy Carlisle has opened up on the ‘heartbreak’ of competing against transgender rivals
Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, recently had a public spat with president Trump
At the time, Carlisle added, she was scared of speaking out: ‘I stayed silent for a while… it’s very hard to speak up if you don’t have a platform to do it on… backlash is a huge thing.
‘I’m a high school student. No high school student wants to be hurt or yelled at or said mean comments by people. And the reality of it, with the state that I live in, that could very much happen.’
But in recent months, she has made her voice heard. She voted in last year’s election before speaking out – both in Maine and at the White House.
Late last month, Carlisle travelled to the White House alongside a number of other female athletes including Payton McNabb – who was partially paralyzed after being struck in the head by a ball during a volleyball game against a transgender athlete.
They shared their stories with Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, and several state representatives.
Last weekend, Carlisle spoke in front of the Maine Capitol in protest at Democratic governor Janet Mills.
Mills recently went viral after a face-off with president Trump over his executive order.
‘Your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports,’ Trump told her. ‘So you better comply – because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.’
Trump paused $175million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania, the alma mater of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas (L)
After Mills replied ‘We’ll see you in court’, Trump warned her: ‘I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after, governor, ’cause I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.’
The president has already paused $175million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over the issue of transgender athletes.
Earlier this week, the University of Maine System (UMS) reportedly agreed to comply with Trump’s executive order after a temporary pause in funding.
‘I really hope that Maine complies because our schools need the federal funding, and we can’t risk losing that,’ Carlisle insisted. ‘It would really really hurt our state to lose that federal funding. So, I hope our government can get it together.’
