Overview
- On Oct. 14, Eastmark High School staff removed 14-year-old Laker Jackson from boys' basketball tryouts after checking the sex listed on his original birth certificate.
- His family says the original record misidentified his sex due to a clerical error; they obtained a corrected certificate this month and a doctor's note stating he is biologically male.
- Queen Creek Unified School District says district records list him as female and that it determines athletic eligibility by the original birth certificate at birth.
- The district told the family that a chromosome analysis could be considered to verify eligibility; reporting cites costs ranging from free to over $2,000, with the family estimating about $1,500.
- The family is weighing a girls' team tryout as a fallback as the student reports confusion and teasing at school, and ABC15 found no prior junior-high cases requiring genetic testing for sports participation.