A medal-winning Olympian recently criticized boys competing in girls' sports in Massachusetts after two NewBostonPost reports on the topic.

Sharron Davies, a British woman who won the silver medal in the 400-meter relay in women's swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, expressed dissatisfaction with the Bay State for allowing boys to compete against girls in the wake of boys helping girls' teams win state championships in field hockey and girls' volleyball.

"This👇🏼years now of boys robbing girls of their awards, places, medals & opportunities," Davies posted on X (Twitter). "But it’s more than that. We are robbing girls of the confidence & pride sporting success brings them. Things they would use all their lives. This is just NOT right or fair😞 our poor girls."

Davies was reacting to a thread on X (Twitter) from the organization HeCheated, an organization that opposes males competing in women's sports, which cited NewBostonPost's reporting on the topic.

In girls’ field hockey, Somerset Berkley junior Ryan Crook had two assists in this year’s Division 2 title win, after scoring both his team's goals in last year’s championship win. Meanwhile, in girls’ volleyball, Oliver Ames won the Division 2 state title with two boys — seniors Evan Casey and Sean Raymond — including 12 digs from Casey in the championship match. A dig is a defensive play in volleyball where a player prevents the ball from hitting the floor after an opponent’s attack.

Massachusetts is the only state in America that lets boys who identify as boys play on girls' sports teams. They do so every year, and make significant contributions to their respective teams.

The state allows boys to play girls' sports due to the 1979 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Attorney General v. Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. The court ruled that the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association's policy of the time, which stated "No boy may play on a girls' team," was unconstitutional. The court's opinion was that it violated the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution.

Here is what the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution states:

All people are born free and equal and have certain natural, essential and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin.

 

The Equal Rights Amendment was three years old at the time of that decision. It passed via referenda in the November 1976 general election; 60.4 percent of voters backed it, while 39.6 percent voted against it, according to the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. Every county voted in favor of the proposed amendment.

Statewide, during the fall 2024 season — the most recent data available — 325 MIAA member schools had girls' volleyball. Ninety-six boys played for those teams, according to participation survey data from the MIAA. Meanwhile, 225 MIAA member schools had field hockey, and 55 boys played for those teams, according to that same survey.

Athletic directors for Oliver Ames and Somerset Berkley could not be reached for comment.