For the last three months, New York City parents and LGBTQ youth advocates have shown up in protest of the anti-transgender sports ban, Resolution #248.
The resolution was passed in March by Community Education Council (CEC) District 2’s board. The district covers The East Village and the Lower East Side. On June 12, more than 200 LGBTQ advocates came in support of trans students including Chase Strangio, Paola Mendoza, Trans formative Schools, and ACT UP NY. Community members wore white in solidarity with students at District 2’s monthly meeting at Clinton Middle School.
The anti-trans resolution would force two-spirit, transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary students to play on a team that doesn’t align with their gender identity, and adds the inaccurate and non-legal term “biological sex” in place of gender identity.
“Thank you to everyone who’s been organizing so much. It’s so beautiful to see this. When Alaina, Megan and I were here in March when they voted on the anti-trans resolution it was very lonely,” Strangio, parent of a District 2 student, said before the June 12th meeting began.
Strangio is also the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice and staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Alaina Daniels, teacher and founder of Trans formative Schools, and Megan Madison, a children’s author, political educator, and lifelong student of radical Black feminism, have been working with Strangio to build support of two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming students.
New York City activists, trans youth and their parents also came to speak at the public comment portion of the meeting to oppose the resolution.
“For you to force people like me to play with boys, I don’t know in what world you would be doing that and be respecting my gender identity at the same time. Those two things don’t go together,” one student said.
The student added that by forcing her to play on a team that didn’t represent her personhood, it would be the equivalent to, “forcing her into a box she just doesn’t fit in.”
“She has filled our lives with unmatched levels of happiness and love,” said her mother, Maria, who proudly joined her daughter in fierce opposition to the resolution.
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Additionally, the June 12 meeting was of compounding importance due to a new resolution.
Notwithstanding the importance of the June 12th meeting, it took place in the backdrop of a resolution to rescind the anti-trans sports ban.
CEC 2 Dis. 2 members Gavin Healy, Sonal Patel, Jessica Savage, and Sara Schacter-Erenburg introduced Resolution #245 to the agenda for a vote. The new “Resolution to Rescind Resolution #248,” states that the trans sports ban policy should be rescinded on 11 grounds. Some of these grounds include going against state law, incorrectly categorizing gender as “biological sex,” and that leading athletes and coaches in women’s sports support the inclusion of trans athletes.
Chancellor David Banks said he personally “rescinds” Resolution #248 at a May 2 town hall meeting.
“At the end of the day what we have to do is commit to working together to find the best solutions for the problems that our system faces. And the problems that our children and our young people have to endure,” Banks said to the District 2 community.
The chancellor said he “will not stand idly by” while anti-trans CEC members paint targets on the backs of LGBTQ students.
Yet, his personal condemnation of Resolution #248 cannot necessarily rescind the policy, said sources. This is why there has been continued pressure on the board to take action. CEC Member Craig L. Slutzkin said that passing Resolution #245 to rescind Resolution #248 would be “inappropriate” and set bad precedent to future policy due to actions already taken by the chancellor to not accept the discriminatory resolution.
CEC Member Sonal Patel pushed back by saying Resolution #245 is symbolic of the families they serve and the values she holds on the District 2 Council. The council is “not representing the families,” said Patel.
“Resolution #248 is proof that the council failed in its responsibility by passing this resolution,” said Emma Johnson, Communications Director Asm. Tony Simone of District 75. Simone’s office expressed full support to rescind the resolution.
These tensions escalated in the Clinton Middle School gymnasium. Resolution #248 CEC Dis. 2 sponsors like Maud Maron, Charles Love, and Allyson Bowen, could be seen getting up and leaving their seats in the middle of public comment. Oftentimes, Maron, Love and Bowen were told that they were “disrespecting” their constituents by gluing themselves to their phones and computers, sometimes videotaping speakers – at times minors.
“Excuse me, can you please get off the phone while I am talking,” Lexie Bean said to Maron in the middle of their public comment.
Maron is known for spreading anti-trans rhetoric, racism, and has affiliations with anti-LGBTQ and 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 a dossier submitted for her removal on CEC Dis. 2. Maud was removed by Chancellor Banks for her anti-trans and racist quotes just days after the June 12 meeting. She was removed along with CEC Dis. 4 Tahj Sutton, who had been a target of Maron due to Sutton’s defense for Palestine, among other reasons cites Chancellor Banks, which activists reject.
“I learned respect in kindergarten, I don’t see any of those guidelines being followed,” one of the eight youth speakers yelled in response.
After a moment of back and forth between CEC members and the audience, Bean proceeded to speak.
“I have to say in my sport – the one that I did – is the only reason I knew I had a body. It’s the only reason I knew I had legs. It’s the only reason I knew I had breath,” said Bean. “My sport is the reason that I am here today.”
Bean is a freelance writer for Teen Vogue, and editor of three anthologies of letters, Written on the Body (Lambda Lit Finalist), Attention: People with Body Parts and Portable Homes. They spoke about sports – competitive artistic roller skating – being a safe place for them, especially as a survivor of sexual assault. Bean said healthy competition, a coach, and a chosen family of roller skaters showed them what it meant to be seen and be cared for.
Research shows the numerous benefits of sports for children, like leadership, communication skills, and improvement of mental health. Taking trans students out of teams that align with gender identity has the opposite effect.
“Scientists have repeatedly said there is no single biological factor that determines sex, and sex assigned at birth is not the sole determinant of gender,” writes Dr. Fausto-Sterling, a professor of biology and gender studies.
GLAAD’s research finds that every major medical association and leading world health authority supports health care for transgender people and youth. As a result, it’s important to understand the facts of trans healthcare to better understand the universality of sports fairness, which is not reduced to gender, according to the ACLU.
This didn’t stop Maud from inviting anti-trans actors to disrupt the meeting.
When these speakers did come to the stage, the audience turned their backs to the speakers, humming in harmony.
After the anti-LGBTQ extremists from Moms For Liberty, Gays Against Groomers, and other extremist hate groups, Soujee Han came to the microphone. The crowd turned to cheer them on.
Han introduced themselves as a queer, nonbinary person, and “so some of you will want to take me seriously, I’m also a disabled army veteran,” Han said looking at Maron.
“I grew up in New York City. I went to public school. And I know first hand that there are real problems out there that need to be addressed, and this (trans youth playing sports) is not a real problem. This is a problem you are making up in your head,” Han declared.
Since Resolution #245 didn’t pass, many wondered what was next.
When Strangio was asked that question, he said, the focus would turn on voting in new CEC Dis. 2 members that represent their constituency.
The next CEC Dis. 2 meeting is scheduled for July 10.