Parents attend the Local Education Council District 2 meeting to support transgender and non-binary students. Photo by Lana Leonard
This is a reprint from GLAAD.
For the past three months, parents and advocates for LGBTQ youth in New York City have been coming together to protest the anti-transgender sports ban, Resolution 248. Out in Jersey first reported the news on April 17, just one month after the anti-transgender sports ban went into effect.
The resolution was passed in March by the Community Education Council (CEC) District 2 board of directors. The district covers the East Village and Lower East Side. On June 12, 2024, more than 200 LGBTQ advocates, including Chase Strangio, Paola Mendoza, Transformative Schools, and ACT UP NY, came together in support of transgender students. Community members wore white to show solidarity with students at District 2’s monthly meeting at Clinton Middle School.
The anti-transgender resolution would force transgender and non-binary students to play on teams that don’t match their gender identity and would add the term “biological sex” in place of gender identity.
“I want to thank everyone who has organized so much of this. It’s really amazing to see this. I felt so lonely when Alaina, Megan and I voted for the anti-transgender resolution in March,” Strangio, a parent of a student in School District 2, said before the start of the June 12, 2024 meeting.
Chase Strangio, an attorney with the ACLU and a parent of a student in School District 2, said:
Paola Mendoza (film director); photo by Lana Leonard
Strangio is deputy director of transgender justice and an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Alaina Daniels, teacher and founder of Transformative Schools, and Megan Madison, a children’s book author and advocate for the LGBTQ and radical Black feminist communities, have worked with Strangio to build support for two-spirit, transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming students.
Activists, transgender youth, and parents in New York City also spoke out against the resolution during the public comment portion of the meeting, as did parents and youth in school districts across New Jersey.
“I don’t know in what world can you force someone like me to play with boys and still respect my gender identity? The two are mutually exclusive,” one student said, adding that forcing her to play on a team that doesn’t represent who she is is the same as “putting her in a box where she doesn’t fit at all.”
Protesters turn their backs on anti-trans extremists at the Community Education Council District 2 meeting on June 12. Photo by Lana Leonard.
“She filled our lives with unparalleled happiness and love,” said her proud mother Maria, who joined her daughter in opposing the resolution.
The June 12 meeting was pivotal because of a new resolution: to repeal the anti-trans sports ban.
CEC 2 Dis. 2 members Gavin Healy, Sonal Patel, Jessica Savage and Sarah Schachter-Elenberg brought Resolution 245 to the table for a vote. The new “Resolution to Repeal Resolution 248” states that the anti-trans sports policy should be repealed for 11 reasons, including that it violates state law, misclassifies gender as “biological sex,” and that top athletes and coaches in women’s sports support the participation of trans athletes.
“Your unfounded hysteria puts transgender children at risk”
June 12th meeting at Clifton Middle School
Photo: Lana Leonard
University President David Banks said during a town hall meeting on May 2, 2024 that he would personally “repeal” Resolution 248.
“At the end of the day, what we have to do is commit to working together to find the best solutions to the issues that our system faces and the issues that our children and young people have to endure,” Banks told the District 2 community.
The president said he “will not stand by and watch” as anti-transgender CEC members paint targets on the backs of LGBTQ students. But sources said that even though he personally condemns Resolution 248, he cannot revoke the policy. That’s why pressure continues to mount on the board to act. CEC member Craig L. Slutskin said passing Resolution 245 to revoke Resolution 248 would be “inappropriate” and that the actions the president has already taken to not accept discriminatory resolutions would set a bad precedent for future policies.
‘Repeal the resolution’ outside Prime Minister Banks’ house
Town Hall on May 2. Photo by Lana Leonard.
CEC member Sonal Patel countered, saying Resolution 248 represents the families they serve and the values she holds for Council District 2. The council “doesn’t represent families,” Patel said.
“Resolution 248 is evidence that the Legislature failed in its responsibility by passing this resolution,” said Emma Johnson, a spokeswoman for State Representative Tony Simone, D-District 75. Simone’s office said it fully supports repealing the resolution.
Tensions rose during the meeting in the Clinton Middle School gymnasium, when Maude Maron, Charles Love and Allison Bowen, the proponents of Resolution No. 248, CEC Dis. 2, were seen getting up and leaving their seats midway through public comment. Maron, Love and Bowen were told multiple times that they were “disrespecting” their constituents by being glued to their phones and computers and even videotaping speakers, sometimes minors.
Former CEC D2 member Maude Maron whispers to CEC
D2 Chairman Len Silverman, photo by Lana Leonard
“Excuse me, could you please hang up while I’m talking,” Lexi Bean said to Maron midway through their public comments.
Maron is known for spreading anti-trans rhetoric and racism, and is affiliated with anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black book-banning groups such as Moms For Liberty. She is also the founder of an anti-integration group called “PLACE NYC,” according to documents filed for her removal from CEC Dis. 2. Maude was removed by Chancellor Banks just days after the June 12 meeting for making anti-trans and racist comments. She was removed along with CEC Dis. 4. Taj Sutton, who was targeted by Maron for her advocacy for Palestine and other reasons, has named Chancellor Banks, a claim that activists deny.
“I learned respect in kindergarten and I don’t believe those guidelines are being followed,” shouted one of the eight youth speakers in response.
After a brief exchange between CEC members and the audience, Bean began to speak.
“Because of the sport I played, I knew I had my body. I knew I had my legs. I knew I had my breath,” Bean said. “I’m here today because of my sport.”
Lexi Bean, freelance writer; photos by Lana Leonard
Bean is a freelance writer for Teen Vogue and the editor of three letter anthologies: Written on the Body (Lambda Lit Finalist), Attention: People with Body Parts, and Portable Homes. The women say sports like competitive roller skating have been a safe space for them, especially as survivors of sexual assault. Bean said the healthy competition, coaches, and select families of roller skaters taught them what it means to be seen and cared for.
Research shows that sports have numerous benefits for children, including improved leadership and communication skills and mental health. Removing transgender students from teams that match their gender identity has the opposite effect. “Scientists have repeatedly stated that there is no single biological factor that determines sex, and that the sex assigned at birth is not the only determinant of gender,” wrote Fausto Sterling, PhD, professor of biology and gender studies.
Lo Peña (they) of Transformative Schools
Speaking to the audience. Photo by Lana Leonard.
According to a GLAAD survey, all major medical associations and the world’s leading health organizations support medical care for transgender people and youth. As a result, according to the ACLU, understanding the facts about transgender medical care is important to better understand the universality of sports fairness. Sports fairness is not gender-specific.
Still, Maude tried to disrupt the conference by inviting anti-trans actors to come on stage, and the audience turned their backs to them and hummed in harmony.
Soujee Han took to the microphone after anti-LGBTQ extremists from Moms For Liberty, Gays Against Groomers and other extreme hate groups. The crowd cheered them on.
Han introduced himself as queer and non-binary, saying, “I know some of you want me to be taken seriously, because I’m also a disabled veteran,” as he looked at Maron. “I grew up in New York City, I went to public schools, and I know firsthand that there are real problems out there that need to be solved, and this (trans youth playing sports) is not a real problem. This is a problem that you’re making up in your own head,” Han declared.
The failure of Resolution 245 left many wondering what would happen next. When asked, Strangio said the focus would shift to electing a new Councilman for the 2nd Central District to represent his constituency.
The next CEC Dis. 2 meeting is scheduled for July.
