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Manhattan's largest neighborhood school board district approved a resolution Wednesday night that could lead to a ban on transgender athletes in women's sports, despite intense community backlash.
Regional Education Council District 2, which covers Manhattan's Lower East Side to Upper East Side, is asking the city's Department of Education to allow a public review of its policy allowing transgender girls to play female roles. It passed the controversial bill by an 8-3 vote. Sports.
The vote took place at the end of a controversial meeting in midtown Manhattan attended by city council members, district parents and Umbrella Academy actor Elliot Page, who has been a vocal supporter of transgender youth in 2020. Ta.
Most speakers at the meeting condemned the resolution.
Jared Danker, a gay DOE employee and District 2 parent, said the resolution “marginals and discriminates against a group of students who need our affirmation and support.” Ta.
New York City Councilman Eric Bottcher, who spoke on behalf of himself and three state legislators, also condemned the resolution.
“We are outraged that you are considering a resolution targeting transgender girls and sports. Such a regressive and harmful resolution in a school district in the middle of Manhattan. What is being proposed is completely shocking.”
The resolution is largely symbolic, as it serves only as a request to Energy Department leadership to review existing policies that the department already supports.
According to the proposal, some members of CEC D2 said they are seeking community input on guidelines established in 2019 by the New York City Public Schools Athletic Federation to allow transgender participation.
The goal of Resolution 248 is to overhaul DOE guidelines and add parental involvement in decisions. CEC D2 members are also calling for transparency, claiming they do not know how the original decision was made.
CEC member Maud Maron, one of the resolution's sponsors, denied claims that the proposal was transphobic, but said it would spark a debate about who should be allowed to play women's sports. insisted.
“If we have a good, real conversation, one of the outcomes may be that we all realize that nothing has changed and these guidelines are perfect as is,” Maron said. he explained.
“But another possibility is that we realized that excluded voices have something really important and should have been listened to from the beginning.”
The bill does not explicitly call for banning transgender people from women's sports, but Maron advocated for such restrictions when she ran for Congress as a Democrat last year.
“In New York City public schools, all students have the right to have their gender, gender identity, and gender expression recognized and respected,” the DOE reiterated in a statement released Wednesday. “At our schools, all students are able to participate in sports and athletics according to their gender identity, and exclusion of students based on gender identity or expression is prohibited.”
CEC councilor Gavin Healy questioned why the 2019 guidelines were being considered five years later.
“If you want to force students to prove their biological sex in order to participate in sports, you're asking invasive and very intimate questions about someone that they don't have to answer,” he said. Ta.
“And what's next, toilets and health care? This is something that targets students' backs, so I'm definitely going to vote against it, but I'm here tonight to discuss this with you all.” I’m so embarrassed that I have to.”
However, CEC D2 Chairman Leonard Silverman said that while he was pleased that the bill was voted on, he acknowledged that the vote did not mean much.
“Unfortunately, in my experience, organizations such as local school boards are created to give parents the illusion of control over the process when in reality we have no control over the process. “Sometimes,” he said, referring to transgender people earlier. Athletes have a biological advantage and may be at risk to a “level playing field.”
Silverman acknowledged that banning transgender athletes will likely be discussed much later.
Parent Linda Quarles, the only speaker supporting Resolution 248, said there is no national or global consensus on the issue.
“This regulation has been in place for five years and we should have learned a lot about how this is impacting girls' sports in schools,” Quarles said. “This gives us an opportunity to look back and understand that the regulations are in line with their intended purpose.”
The resolution is not the only effort in New York state to address transgender athletes on women's sports teams.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in sports at county-run facilities.
