A Pembroke mother recently spoke out after she says a male transgender athlete displaced her daughter at a girls' indoor track meet.

Pembroke High School mother Chrissy Nelson spoke out at a Pembroke School Committee meeting last month after her daughter finished ninth in the girls' 55-meter dash at the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association Division 4 Northeast Invitational meet the previous weekend.

The ninth-place finish left the female athlete unable to compete in the finals, because only the top eight competitors in each event advance to the finals. However, Nelson says a male transgender-identifying athlete finished in the top eight.

The athlete Nelson was referring to competes for Chelsea High School, she told NewBostonPost.

The athlete she referred to has facial hair, a review by NewBostonPost found.

During the Pembroke School Committee meeting, Nelson called for change.

“When a female cannot be noticed by colleges, they cannot be recruited, they cannot receive college scholarships, and their dreams are crushed ..." she told the committee January 13. "I’m here today bringing this important issue to your attention purely because I think that there are some school policies that need to be changed.”

Nelson asked the Pembroke School Committee to change the school district‘s policy, to base athletic participation on anatomical sex rather than on so-called gender identity.

Republican candidates for office in Massachusetts have sided with Nelson, saying it's unfair that Bay State girls have to compete against males in interscholastic sports.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate and attorney John Deaton was among those who expressed empathy for Nelson.

"Too bad this MA Mom’s plea for basic fairness for her daughter and other female athletes falls on deaf ears when it comes to @SenMarkey," Deaton posted on X (Twitter). "Unlike Ed Markey, I have daughters and understand this woman’s frustration and the level of 💔 she has for her child."

Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidates Mike Kennealy and Mike Minogue also took the mother's side.

Kennealy posted on X (Twitter), "No boys in girls sports. Period. It’s just commonsense."

Additionally, Minogue's X (Twitter) post said: "Girls need fair and safe sports. As a father of two athletic daughters, we need common sense."

Male athletes who identify as girls can compete in girls' sports in Massachusetts due to a 2011 law called "An Act Relative to Gender Identity." It made gender identity a protected class in Massachusetts public schools. As a result, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education directed the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to allow students to compete on teams that match their gender identity rather than their sex.

Transgender-identifying athletes have won state titles in girls' track (Chloe Barnes) and girls' basketball in Massachusetts in recent years; they have also won league all-star honors in girls' volleyball and girls' tennis and set all-city meet records in track. A transgender girls' basketball player also injured three girls in one half of a game last year, forcing the other team to forfeit.

A March 2025 University of New Hampshire poll found that 63 percent of Bay Staters don't think transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women's sports, while just 26 percent disagree.

The superintendent of Chelsea Public Schools could not be reached for comment this past weekend.