Should biological boys who identify as transgendered girls play on girls’ teams? This has become an issue in over 30 states, including Michigan, Missouri and Florida. Florida Governor Ron De Santis signed a bill on June 3 banning biological males from competing on women’s sports teams. Lawsuits around the country by female participants allege that transgendered males have an unfair advantage, biologically.

A Black Hawk resident and former school administrator raised the issue before the Gilpin County School Board at a regular meeting on May 18, 2021. Richard J. Giordano, Ed.D., who said he has been in education as a coach and principal, spoke about interscholastic sports and his thoughts about the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) policy inequities. He provided the Board with two books for reference and offered a parental survey to help the Board find out how parents feel about the subject.

Giordano was raised on the South Side of Chicago where he gained his K-12 education, according to a book website. He went on to Michigan State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and biology and a master’s degree in educational administration.

He subsequently earned a doctoral degree in education from the University of Colorado. He developed his Making Up Crap and Synergistic Thinking methodology while working as a high school principal and, after leaving public school education, field-tested variations as a consultant in the corporate arena. Today, he collaborates with university SASS (Student Athlete Support Services) staffs around the country to bring this uniquely effective and enjoyable learning dynamic to high-performing student- athletes.

Giordano served as a principal in Michigan and came to Colorado in the fall of 1979 after backpacking in Colorado a couple of times. He then went to Telluride as principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent. He was hired as principal at Durango High School, where he stayed for three years, when he began graduate studies at the University of Colorado.

In 1985, he was appointed principal of Nederland Junior/Senior High School, where he served for five years. He left that position to work with elite university athletes, and has written two books. His first book is Super-Charged Learning: How Wacky Thinking and Sports Psychology Make It Happen,” www.superchargedlearning.com, and his second is Ineptitude, Conformity, and Obfuscation: The Fraud of Teacher Evaluation in the Public Schools.

He has lived for 27 years in Gilpin County and now lives 900 feet above Black Hawk.

He told The Mountain-Ear that this is a huge issue after being involved in five school districts and intercollegiate athletics. “When I saw the insidious nature of the transgender movement, I thought it was a fraudulent concept. To allow a man to compete against a woman is absurd. It goes to the core of the American family.”

When he attended the school board meeting, on May 18, 2021, he presented the board with an opportunity to survey the client base enrolled in Gilpin County Schools with one question: are they against the concept of males competing against females in activities sanctioned by the Gilpin County Schools? A parent would not need to self-identify.

In previous meetings the Board had discussed AC-E-3, made some changes, and approved the first reading on May 18, 2021. At the June 1, 2021, meeting, the Board approved the second reading of changes to policy AC-E-3, Guidelines for support of students and staff who are transgender and gender non-conforming.

Giordano has been a guest on several radio shows. He has done the John Rush Show (Rush to Reason) in Denver, the Jimmy Lakey Show in Ft. Collins, and the Mandy Connell Show on KOA, all broadcast in Metro-Denver and surrounding states. Recently, he has done three shows on the transgender topic focusing on the Colorado High School Association and its policy.

After talking to the Board President, Steve Boulter, to no avail, he received an email from Dr. MacKenzie, who thanked him for coming to the May 18 Board meeting, and said the Board discussed his comments during the June 1, 2021, executive session meeting.

“The Board of Education directed me to provide you the following response: There are a number of federal laws and Colorado State Statutes that require local Boards of Education and High School Activities Associations to adopt written policies prohibiting discrimination.

“These GCSD Guidelines are to ensure non-discriminatory practices and are issued in keeping with these federal and state mandates to create a safe learning environment for all students and to ensure that every student has equal access to all school programs and activities. These Guidelines set out a protocol for school and District staff to address the needs of students and staff who are transgender and gender nonconforming and clarify how federal and state law should be implemented in situations where questions may arise about how to protect the legal rights or safety of such students.

“These Guidelines do not anticipate every situation that might occur with respect to students who are transgender or gender nonconforming, and the needs of each student must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, these Guidelines provide any student and staff who has a need or desire for increased privacy, regardless of the underlying reason, to be provided with reasonable accommodation(s).”

Giordano said he believes the Board doesn’t want to know what the parents are thinking. Logic would say that males should not participate in female sports. With his degree in biology, he has seen the differences between males and females, and no hormonal treatment changes the biology from male to female. That is why we have women’s sports and men’s sports, Title IX protected.

Giordano’s next step will continue at the Gilpin County level. He is hoping this small school district would question this policy and say it’s not right. “Do what’s right for the kids. It’s wrong and it needs to be stopped.”

Board Member Joe Marr presented the Board of Education with a plaque a few years ago, which states: “Always remember to ask yourselves: What’s best for kids?” Giordano wonders why current Board members are not honoring this precept.