Grandfather wrongly accuses girl, 9, of being trans at school sports event
A Czech couple have been banned from their granddaughter's elementary school after causing chaos at a district-wide shot put contest by wrongly assuming that one of her competitors was transgender and demanding to see the child's birth certificate.
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What kind of accusations were made towards the girl?
Josef Tesar and his wife Krista, who emigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, were watching their granddaughter compete in the event in Kelowna, British Columbia, last Thursday.
When Heidi Starr's nine-year-old daughter approached the field to take her shot, Josef is said to have stopped play.
Noting the nine-year-old's pixie cut and baggy sports uniform, he told event organizers: 'This is a girls event. Why are you letting boys play?'
Heidi, her ex-partner (the girl's other mom) and her current partner, were all watching.
They say Josef then proceeded to demand 'proof' that she'd been born female.
Josef Tesar and his wife Krista, who emigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, were watching their granddaughter compete in the event in Kelowna, British Columbia, last Thursday when he is said to have demanded proof that two of the nine-year-old competitors were female
The girl in question, who DailyMail.com is not naming, is not transgender. After 68-year-old Josef's outburst, she erupted in tears. 'My daughter was shaking and sobbing,' Starr, 47, told DailyMail.com
The girl in question, who DailyMail.com is not naming, is not transgender.
The event in Kelowna brought together kids from the entire school district for a day of competitive track and field.
Starr's daughter had placed second in discus and was preparing for shot put, a sport she was confident in.
When she stepped up to throw, Josef, who owns a local Motel 6, intervened, striding up to an event organizer who was 'stunned' by his demands.
'I stepped up quite boldly and asked, "are you pointing to my daughter? Because my daughter is a girl."
'At that, he said [sarcastically], "Oh, I get it, she's a "girl". He used air quotes,' Starr recalled.
Flabbergasted, she says she ran to find 'some kind of security'.
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Where did the accusations occur?
'Obviously there was none. This was an elementary school sports event.'
The child with her mom Heidi Starr (left) and stepmom Amber (right) at a recent Pride event. They say she was 'sobbing and shaken' at the sports event
A handful of the more 'forceful' parents and volunteer organizers told Josef and his wife to leave.
'That's when his wife started calling me and my partner genital mutilators, groomers and pedophiles,' Starr says.
The couple left the premises and the event was moved to another location. Starr's daughter was still shaken.
'She has gay parents, she has a trans cousin, she has known the spectrum of LGBTQ her entire life but she is not transgender, and she has never before seen the hate.
'She is just really sad whenever she thinks about it... that she was being asked to prove she's a girl.
'All of the kids became collateral damage of this one isolated but very vocal opinion,' she said.
The couple's adult daughter is a teacher at a local high school who Starr says was 'mortified'.
'She reached out to me and said she is a teacher and this is not what she teaches,' said Starr, who works in mental health services.
Josef and Krista have now been banned from all of the events at the elementary school. Superintendent Kevin Kardaal told DailyMail.com: 'They were inappropriate in their comments and their aggression towards the kids and the staff involved in the event Staff intervened and moved the event'
Now, the couple have been banned from attending any school events in the Kelowna School District.
Superintendent Kevin Kardaal told DailyMail.com: 'They were inappropriate in their comments and their aggression towards the kids and the staff involved in the event Staff intervened and moved the event.
'It was inappropriate and unacceptable. We are an inclusive school district and support the human rights of our students and staff.
'They were not supportive of those human rights in their comments.
'We have proceeded with actions that will prevent the offender from being present at any of our school campus events in the future.'
Tesar did not to DailyMail.com's inquiries about the incident, nor did his adult children.
In a 2018 article in a local newspaper, he spoke proudly of emigrating to Canada and making a life for his family there.
He was a champion wrestler in Czechoslovakia and then Canada, even landing a spot to compete in the 1984 Canadian Olympic team.
He was banned from taking part when he asked for permission from his native country.