An 12-year-old girl named Brooke Choi is really good at football. She’s so good that she beat 22 other kids (all boys) to earn a spot on the Chester County Crusaders youth football team. Unfortunately, she was ultimately blocked from playing because the team is guided by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which are against co-ed football teams for kids of certain ages.
To add insult to injury, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia gave the most ridiculous and out-of-touch reasoning for barring Choi from the team. PhillyVoice reports:
"Unless it’s for flag (football), girls can’t be registered for tackle (by) Archdiocesan rule. We can’t override that at the Crusader or District level since the policy was implemented by the Archbishop," wrote Edward Caporellie, board president for the Crusaders, when Suzanne reached out seeking information in the aftermath.
It was a stunning realization that hasn’t relented in two months. The Archdiocese told the family that Brooke could not play because they feared “inappropriate touching” could take place.
This is ridiculous. Technically, “inappropriate touching” could happen anywhere, but it’s up to the leaders to do their jobs and create the safest environment possible for the players. There are no locker rooms needed at this stage, so it seems pretty easy to expect adults to possess the ability to be chaperones and good examples of how to treat girls well.
It shows a lack of understanding of what harassing and bullying is about; denying a talented young girl the opportunity to be a part of a successful team is not the way to stop “inappropriate touching.”
Also, the Church knows more than most that it doesn’t take mixing young girls and boys for sexual harassment and abuse to happen. Seems like they haven’t truly done the work to educate themselves on fostering a culture of consent that doesn’t discriminate by gender.