Teen boy told to join girls team over birth certificate error

quote:

---

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (KTVK/KPHO/Gray News) - An eighth-grade boy from Arizona was removed from his high school’s boys basketball tryouts and told he can only play on the girls team because of a clerical error on his birth certificate.

Sitting at his kitchen island doing homework, Laker Jackson, an eighth-grade student at Eastmark High School, is thinking about his time outside of the classroom.

---

quote:

---

But the multi-talented athlete was excluded from high school basketball tryouts last Tuesday because of a clerical error on his original birth certificate. His mother, Becky Jackson, says there was a mix-up at the hospital the day he was born.

“I give them the birth certificate, and they’re like, ‘Did you know this says female?’” Jackson said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s so funny.’ So, we come home. Everyone’s laughing.”

Over the years, the fact that Laker’s birth certificate mistakenly listed him as female hasn’t caused many issues – until he decided to try out for the boys basketball team.

“They sent the athletic director of Eastmark High to physically remove Laker from the basketball tryouts in front of all of his friends, in front of the coach,” Jackson said.

---

quote:

---

Laker said the incident became a topic of conversation among his classmates.

“From my friends, I heard they were talking about it for the entire tryout and even the next day’s tryouts because they were really confused,” he said.

The Queen Creek Unified School District said in a statement it wants to ensure “fairness, integrity, and equal opportunity” when it comes to athletics. Because Laker’s birth certificate lists him as female, he has been told he has to play on either the coed or girls basketball team.

“Our schools rely on a student’s original birth certificate at birth to determine athletic eligibility,” the statement read.

---

quote:

---

Laker’s parents got a corrected birth certificate along with a note from a doctor, but the district says that isn’t enough.

“Now, they may consider changing it if we get chromosomal testing. They didn’t say they would. It says they may,” Jackson said.

Chromosome testing comes with a hefty price tag, and the Jacksons say the district is missing the mark altogether. Meanwhile, Laker just wants to play basketball.

---