Responding to the Cancellation of South Regionals
By: Beckett Brueggemann, Naresh Edala, and Fiona Wisehart
Edited by: Christian Barnes
Disclaimer
We at FastBreak News do not wish to speak for the Floridian trans community. We would like to invite any trans members from the Florida quidditch community to publish a piece about their thoughts and experiences with us. Please contact us via email or any of our socials.
Press Release Summary
On June 2, 2021, United States Quidditch (USQ) announced that they would be cancelling the 2021-2022 season South Regional Championship, scheduled to take place in Lake City, Florida in spring 2022. This is due to the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1028, also referred to as SB 1028.
USQ states “due to the projected number of teams in the South region next season, USQ has decided not to host a dedicated regional championship for that area. Instead, USQ will facilitate and support a sanctioned event that will offer teams a chance to qualify for USQ Cup. More information on that will be available later in the summer.”
Our Reactions:
Caption: It is difficult to see how the cancellation of South Regionals empowers trans players. USQ’s Mission Statement is available here.
Quidditch is an all-gender sport. It is meant to be welcoming and open to players of all genders, but both USQ and the quidditch community have not always lived up to those ideals. For example, the gender rule is designed to make quidditch more inclusive, but the execution of the rule creates a categorization of gender which is not always accessible or safe for trans athletes.
We believe USQ made the right decision in not supporting this bill. They are not forcing trans players to make choices concerning their personal safety in attending South Regionals within a state that is actively excluding trans athletes from sports. When bills of this nature are passed, they legitimize transphobia and hate crimes against trans individuals increase. Even so, Floridian trans quidditch players need additional support beyond simply cancelling South Regionals.
Caption: Increased visibility of quidditch is in line with USQ’s own Vision Statement. USQ’s Vision Statement is available here.
There are trans athletes that are unaware of a sport that is designed to allow them to compete. Visibility is of the utmost importance to trans athletes especially now when politicians are actively trying to suppress them from competition. Because quidditch is designed to make space for transgender athletes, it should be a space for this visibility to take place.
What Now?
Transphobia is a systemic issue and USQ and the quidditch community cannot solve it on their own, but quidditch can become a sport where trans athletes are consistently welcome. Below is a list of possible ways for USQ, quidditch teams, and individuals to support trans athletes. It is not a comprehensive list and we welcome and encourage discussion.
Directly reach out to trans athletes in these areas for local efforts led by their trans players and leaders.
Partner with Floridian quidditch teams, particularly the Youth and High School teams, to run community quidditch events. This will create opportunities for trans youth to see themselves represented and valued on sports teams.
Partner with trans organizations geared toward supporting athletics. This will welcome more diverse voices into quidditch event planning.
Create a diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative to help teams better support their teammates.
Athlete Ally has numerous resources for inclusion of LGBTQ athletes.
Project Implicit is a series of implicit bias tests that learning and unlearning is needed even for those who have good intentions.
The study “Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention” by Patricia G Devine (et. al.) proved that it was possible to reduce implicit racial bias through courses and Project Implicit. While this study specifically focused on racial bias, its results are applicable to related biases such as transphobia.
Caption: South region teams that were official during the 2019-2020 USQ season.
Caption: Screenshot of South Teams from USQ’s Teams page
Five out of the seven USQ-official South Region teams are in Florida. For better or for worse, Florida is their home. Now, more than ever, trans athletes need to know that they have a home in the quidditch community. Despite the fact that in the 2019-2020 season the South region only had five USQ-official college teams and two USQ-official club teams, making it the least populated USQ region, the USQ Teams page tells a very different story. There are a total of 23 youth, high school, college, and club teams. Clearly, quidditch is a sport much-beloved by the South, and especially Florida, as 69.57% of these South teams are based in Florida.
Quidditch is played by people of all identities, races, and genders, all over the world, but we all play for the same reasons. We play because, win or lose, there’s nothing quite like competing alongside your teammates. The bonds that we have are priceless and it is absolutely reprehensible that anyone would seek to keep these experiences from anyone. It is an incredible tragedy that these opportunities are being kept from trans athletes.
USQ and the quidditch community have not always lived up to our values of inclusion, yet these values have been consistently cited by athletes as one of the primary appeals of quidditch. It is imperative that we create a truly inclusive and welcoming sport for trans athletes and athletes of all backgrounds and identities.