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Bladen County takes cue from state, bans transgender youth in parks-and-rec sports

Ian McKinnell
/
Getty Images

Bladen County is one of the first counties in North Carolina to require participants in its parks and recreation programs to play on sports teams aligned with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Bladen County is one of the first counties in North Carolina to require participants in its parks and recreation programs to play on sports teams aligned with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The five Republicans and four Democrats who serve on the Bladen County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the policy last week without public discussion or input from residents.

The Rev. Cameron McGill, a Bladen County commissioner, asked Parks and Recreation Director Grant Pait in June to look into creating the policy.

McGill told The Border Belt Independent he was prompted to take action when a Bladen County high school competed in an athletic event earlier this year against a team with a transgender athlete. He declined to name the school or the sport.

To learn more, visit our media partners at The Border Belt Independent

Kelly Kenoyer is an Oregonian transplant on the East Coast. She attended University of Oregon’s School of Journalism as an undergraduate, and later received a Master’s in Journalism from University of Missouri- Columbia. Contact her by email at KKenoyer@whqr.org.
Reporter, Border Belt Independent