Man Harasses 9-Year-Old at Field Day Event, Falsely Insists She’s Transgender

Two Canadian mothers are outraged and making their displeasure known after their 9-year-old daughter was harangued at a field day competition on Thursday. A spectator questioned the girl’s gender and berated her family.

Kelowna’s Apple Bowl, a multipurpose stadium located about 230 miles northeast of Spokane in British Columbia, hosted a day of children’s track and field activities.

The girl’s two mothers said one of the competitors’ grandfathers shouted at the daughter during a shot-put competition. On Facebook, the moms only identify their daughter as Winter.

“She went to step up to compete for the grade four shot-put final, and right before she went to throw, a grandfather of a student said, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete.’ My daughter is cisgender, born female, uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie haircut,” Heidi Starr explained, local news site Castanet reports.

According to Starr, the man asked for proof that her daughter was a girl.

“He stopped the entire event. He also pointed at another girl who also had short hair. He then piped in and said, ‘Well, if she is not a boy, then she is obviously trans.” according to Starr.

The man’s wife then referred to Starr as “a genital mutilator, a groomer, and a pedophile,” she said.

The site reports that the superintendent, Kevin Kaardal, indicated that steps are being taken to prevent the man from attending future school events.

“Staff intervened and actually moved the shot-put away from where he was,” Kardaal told the news site. “The gentleman was not a part of our school district. We are taking steps to ensure he is not able to be on our school property or attend events in the future.”

Kaardal called the situation “totally unacceptable,” adding that “adults need to govern themselves and behave appropriately.”

The young girl’s confidence has been damaged due to Thursday’s events, says her other mother, Kari Starr.

“Despite me begging for him to check himself and reminding him that this is an elementary school competition and nobody was trying to RIG the results… he would not back down,” she wrote on Facebook. “He continued at length to yell at Winter and tell her she should not be allowed to compete unless certification was presented that she was, in fact, female!”

“This has destroyed our beautiful daughter’s confidence, and she was inconsolably crying during this whole event and continued once it was over and we were leaving,” Kari Starr explained. “Not to mention, she was unable to concentrate on her track and field finals and the shot-put throw for which she had qualified.”

In her Facebook post directed at the people who made the comments, she wrote, “You and your wife should be ashamed of yourselves! And your poor granddaughter, who you were there to support - you brought complete embarrassment to her as well, to be associated to your ignorance in any capacity!”