Biological male earns state honor for girls’ volleyball on team his mom helps coach

A biological male has been named to the Massachusetts 2024 Divisions 3, 4, and 5 Girls All-State Volleyball Team by the state’s coaches association.

The award has sparked outrage from some in the community who say a biological girl has been left off the team to make way for the 17-year old male, according to the New Boston Post.

Brodie Gerlach, who previously went by the name Brody, led the girls’ volleyball team at Sturgis West Charter School to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 4 playoffs this year.  

Last year, Brodie was also named the Cape & Island Lighthouse Division’s Most Valuable Player, according to archives provided by the Post.  

Dana Gerlach, Brodie’s mom, is an assistant coach of the West Sturgis girls’ volleyball team, leaving one organization to question the propriety of including the six-foot male middle hitter on the team. 

HeCheated.org, a group that works “to document every instance of men and boys stealing from female athletes in women’s sports,” listed Dana Gerlach as one of six parents whose transgender sons play on sports teams associated with the parent.  

“Dana Gerlach, mother of ‘trans’-identified boy Brody (now ‘Brodie’) Gerlach, is an assistant coach on the Sturgis West girls’ volleyball team in Massachusetts where Brody has played varsity since freshman year,” said HeCheated.org on X. “This year he leads the team in every stat but assists and receptions, 341 kills to the next girl’s 74. He was also team captain this year.” 

Brody Gerlach was identified by the Post as participating as a boy in youth curling in 2020 at the Grand National Curling Club Under-18 event. 

The top administrator at West Sturgis High avoided making any comments about Gerlach’s volleyball dominance, citing student privacy. 

“Out of sensitivity to and in compliance with federal and state student privacy laws, Sturgis does not comment on individual students,” Paul Marble, executive director of West Sturgis Charter, told the Post via email. “With regards to our athletic policies, Sturgis abides by the policies and guidelines established by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.” 

But not everyone was as protective of the boy’s right to play against girls.  

“In coed volleyball, males have to play from the back line for the protection of the female athletes,” said one community member on X.  

The commenter continued, asking, “Did Brodie’s mom require him to play from the back line?” 

In volleyball alone, HeCheated maintains a database of over 260 appearances by biological males in female competitions that have resulted in “105 stolen titles” and “198+ top-3 finishes” by “42 male athletes.”  

Overall, the database catalogues “3195 unfair victories” in nearly 10,000 events where males have competed against women.