Transgender High School Softball Pitcher Exposes Potential Problems With NCAA Policy

There is a high school junior in Minnesota competing on a girls' softball team and, apparently, the athlete is a male, according to Reduxx. The player, who now goes by "Marissa" Rothenberg, competes on the girls' varsity softball team at Champlin Park High School in Minnesota. 

As a sophomore, Rothenberger helped Champlin Park win 14 games in a row heading into the state playoffs. The coach of the team said Rothenberger had been doing a "phenomenal job" as one of the team's main pitchers. Rothenberger "earned" First-Team All-State honors from the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association. The transgender athlete was the only underclassman to receive First-Team honors among 4A Minnesota high schools. 

Minnesota is a state that tends to lean very left-wing, and they have extremely lenient policies when it comes to transgender athletes. Consider that it is one of the states currently under investigation by the Department of Education for potential Title IX violations related to allowing males to compete in girls' and women's sports. 

In addition, Minnesota is one of the states that allows people to change their gender on their birth certificate and have a new certificate issued. The state doesn't require the birth certificate to be marked after the change, either. As far as the Minnesota government is concerned, if a male says he is a girl or woman, that's good enough. 

According to documents obtained by Reduxx, Rothenberger's mother, Heather, "applied to the Hennepin County District Court to alter [the athlete's] birth certificate shortly after his 9th birthday. The petition was approved, and Rothenberger was issued a new birth certificate showing that he was born ‘female’ and altering his name from ‘Charlie Dean’ to