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A Canadian man who allegedly shouted at a nine-year-old girl and questioned whether she was transgender has been banned from attending elementary school athletics competitions, after an incident that activists say reflects a broader rise in anti-trans hate across the country.
Kari Starr told the Guardian that her nine-year-old daughter was preparing for a shot put competition in the British Columbia city of Kelowna when a man attempted to halt the competition, alleging Starr’s daughter was either a boy or transgender.
Starr said the incident left her daughter, who is not transgender, “hysterically crying” and unable to compete in the shot put final.
Starr’s former partner Heidi described the incident to CTV News: “His wife started yelling that my ex-wife and I – parents of my daughter – and other parents of trans kids were genital mutilators and groomers, and the man himself began demanding to see a certificate proving my daughter was born a girl.”
Josef Tesar and his wife Krista, who attended the event to see their granddaughter compete, were asked to leave by other parents. In a statement to local media, Tesar denied he ever confronted the nine-year-old.
“As I was walking away from the official, a woman said ‘I’m her mother’ and [she...