{"id":353387,"date":"2025-10-20T09:14:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/353387\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T09:14:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T09:14:31","slug":"teen-removed-from-boys-basketball-tryouts-told-to-join-girls-team-over-birth-certificate-error-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/353387\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen removed from boys basketball tryouts, told to join girls team over birth certificate error"},"content":{"rendered":"

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (KTVK\/KPHO<\/a>\/Gray News) – An eighth-grade boy from Arizona was removed from his high school\u2019s boys basketball tryouts and told he can only play on the girls team because of a clerical error on his birth certificate.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"LakerLaker Jackson, 14, was removed from his high school\u2019s boys basketball tryouts because of a clerical error on his birth certificate.(Source: KTVK\/KPHO via CNN)<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the team aspect of the sport a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI like to play basketball, I wrestle and I like football a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them the birth certificate, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Did you know this says female?\u2019\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, man, that\u2019s so funny.\u2019 So, we come home. Everyone\u2019s laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, the fact that Laker\u2019s birth certificate mistakenly listed him as female hasn\u2019t caused many issues \u2013 until he decided to try out for the boys basketball team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

Laker said the incident became a topic of conversation among his classmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my friends, I heard they were talking about it for the entire tryout and even the next day\u2019s tryouts because they were really confused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Queen Creek Unified School District said in a statement it wants to ensure \u201cfairness, integrity, and equal opportunity\u201d when it comes to athletics. Because Laker\u2019s birth certificate lists him as female, he has been told he has to play on either the coed or girls basketball team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur schools rely on a student\u2019s original birth certificate at birth to determine athletic eligibility,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Laker\u2019s parents got a corrected birth certificate along with a note from a doctor, but the district says that isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, they may consider changing it if we get chromosomal testing. They didn\u2019t say they would. It says they may,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The school district\u2019s full statement can be read below:<\/p>\n

\u201cQueen Creek Unified School District is committed to ensuring fairness, integrity, and equal opportunity in all athletic programs for both boys and girls. We take great care to follow state and district guidelines that support competitive equity and student well-being. (Policy 5-410 and ARS 15-120.02 as well as AIA bylaw 14.11.6).<\/p>\n

In this particular case, the student has been enrolled in QCUSD since elementary school and has been registered as a biological female throughout their time in our district. The day before basketball tryouts, the parent submitted a new birth certificate and a doctor\u2019s note indicating a gender change. Our schools rely on a student\u2019s original birth certificate at birth to determine athletic eligibility.<\/p>\n

This student\u2019s parent reached out to our district and asked for help finding a solution. We informed the parent that documentation such as a chromosome analysis could be considered to help support or verify eligibility in accordance with policy.<\/p>\n

Our team communicated this information directly to the family and expressed our willingness to work together toward a resolution. We have not yet received a response but remain open and committed to ongoing dialogue.<\/p>\n

QCUSD values every student and family and will continue to approach all matters with compassion, transparency, and a steadfast commitment to maintaining integrity in both boys and girls athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 KTVK\/KPHO via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (KTVK\/KPHO\/Gray News) – An eighth-grade boy from Arizona was removed from his high school\u2019s boys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[382,7,55146,55711,55712,55709,55707,55710,55708],"class_list":{"0":"post-353387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-birth-certificate","11":"tag-birth-certificate-error","12":"tag-boy-told-to-join-girls-basketball-team","13":"tag-boys-basketball-tryouts","14":"tag-high-school-basketball-tryouts","15":"tag-mistakenly-listed-as-female","16":"tag-removed-from-basketball-tryouts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115405735807059496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}