Arizona teen boy Laker Jackson forced to play on girls basketball team over birth certificate error

An Arizona 14-year-old boy was barred from playing for his high school’s boys’ basketball team, but told he could join the girls’ roster because of a clerical error on his birth certificate.

Laker Jackson was “physically removed” from the Eastmark High School gym in the middle of tryouts for the boys basketball team on Oct. 14 when school officials determined that he was breaking the school’s policy regarding “fairness and equality” of its athletic teams.

“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,” the teen’s mother, Becky Jackson, told AZFamily.

Jackson’s birth certificate had incorrectly marked him as female when he was born.

Jackson had lived his entire life without knowing about the mistake until last year when he registered to attend the public school in Mesa, Ariz., based 33 miles outside of the state’s capital of Phoenix.

“I give him the birth certificate and they’re like, did you know this says female,” Becky Jackson said. “I was like, ‘what, oh man, that’s so funny.’ So we come home, everyone’s laughing.”

Jackson, who is in eighth grade, and the rest of the basketball team hopefuls were left confused over his removal from the school’s tryouts.

He had unsuccessfully tried out for the team the previous year with no problems over his birth certificate.

The mix-up was never a problem for the teen as he grew up knowing he was a male.

He played in a boys’ basketball league over the summer and won a conference championship for the school’s wrestling team last year.

Becky Jackson never caught the mistake after she gave birth to Laker, her sixth and youngest child.

“The gender marker is not something I looked at, I looked at the time and date making sure they were right and put it in the safe. I wasn’t even aware it was [marked] female until we registered [Laker] at school in the Queen Creek School District,” she told 12News.

The family received a corrected birth certificate and a doctor’s note to clarify the legal change for the teen to resume tryouts.

“It said he was examined and yes, he is a biological male,” Becky Jackson said.

School administrators stood firm and ruled Jackson was ineligible to join the boys’ team since the original birth certificate stated he was a female.

“Queen 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,” the school said in a letter to the outlets.

“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’s note indicating a gender change. Our schools rely on a student’s original birth certificate at birth to determine athletic eligibility.”

The discovery forced the school to remove Jackson from the boys’ basketball tryout, but it opened the door for him to try out for the girls’ team if he wants to play basketball until his legal gender is clarified.

“A lot of kids do talk about me because they think it’s funny or weird,” the eighth-grader said. “I’ve gotten pulled into the principal’s office, and I’m really confused, because he’s like, ‘I want you to be comfortable,’ but I am comfortable, if you just put me with the boys and stuff,” the teen told ABC15.

The Jackson family was told by the school they could undergo chromosomal testing to clarify Jackson’s gender, but the test would cost could range from free to over $2,000, according to the National Library of Medicine.

“This student’s 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.”

Becky Jackson remains reluctant to accept the school district’s help.

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