The parents of at least one high school student who lost a high school sports competition to a girl from another school demanded the state board that oversees scholastic athletics to confirm the girl’s gender, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.  The investigation confirmed the girl’s gender.

Neither the unnamed female student-athlete nor the girl’s parents were advised of the inquiry, which was done through a records check of her school registration records going back to kindergarten.  David Spatafore, the spokesperson for the Utah High School Activities Association, said that was done to protect the student’s identity, as was the policy to not discuss the student’s school or sport the student competed in.

In testimony before a state legislative committee, Spatafore said the UHSAA receives complaints to investigate athletes–primarily female athletes–to confirm their birth gender when they dominate a sport and in the opinion of spectators or other coaches, “when an athlete doesn’t look feminine enough.”  Spatafore said that the association typically relies on school records from where the student is enrolled, but in this specific case, decided to probe deeper at the urging of the offended parents whose child lose the sporting contest.

The very fact that the athletic association used school records going back a decade to confirm the gender of a student-athlete concerns many students, parents, school administrators and civil rights advocates who claim the board doesn’t have investigative authority to search school records.  The concern is the parents of losing athletes will use the athletic association to harass and threaten the student-athletes and their families.

“Where does the UHSAA get their authority to go investigate? Where is it in their policy? If they’re just going to do it when they’re yelled at,” Sue Robbins, a member of the Transgender Advisory Council of Equality Utah, said. “If they’re going to examine a level of records without telling the athlete, they should have a policy behind it. Otherwise, what constrains their behavior?”