Transgender student-athlete participation in school sports has recently become an issue in communities across the nation, including here on the Central Coast.
Over the past few weeks, Arroyo Grande High School (AGHS) and the surrounding community have been involved in a debate over the inclusion of a 16-year-old transgender student-athlete on the school's track and field team.
The debate continued Tuesday evening at a Lucia Mar Unified School District (LMUSD) board meeting in Arroyo Grande.
The LMUSD Board Room was packed with families and community members who were each given a minute to deliver a public comment to the board.
Representatives on both sides of the issue spoke out throughout the evening, offering insight into their respective ideologies.
"I'm here because I have a stake in this," said one speaker.
For most of those opposing the inclusion of transgender athletes in AGHS sports, their sentiments revolved around the safety of female athletes.
"We must maintain a safe and fair environment for our female athletes to compete," said one mother of two female athletes. "It is certainly not safe for my girls to be on the receiving end of that strength advantage."
Many community members were also concerned about the potential discomfort caused by the presence of a transgender athlete in the girls' locker room.
"If I had to be naked in front of a boy, much less in front of women at that age, it [would be] traumatizing," said one speaker.
"We're failing to protect our girls' privacy and safety," said another community member.
AGHS students were also in attendance at Tuesday's meeting. One female student addressed a public comment that was made by her teammate at the prior district board meeting.
"Recently, a teammate stood before you and described feeling unsafe due to a transgender woman in our locker room. She claimed to speak for all female athletes and defend women's rights — notions I believe to be grossly incorrect. What I saw wasn't empowerment — it was an attack," the student said. "Misgendering her, painting her as perverse, and turning her identity into a spectacle is not defending women, it's spreading hate."
Several local religious leaders took to the podium as well, speaking about the issue through the lens of their beliefs.
"You have every right to teach your Torah, your Bible, the way you do in your churches. But in my public school, I want to feel safe and protected, regardless of my religion, gender, or sexual orientation," said local Rabbi Micah Hyman.
Other transgender athlete supporters called on the board to uphold state law, which requires that schools allow their students to participate in activities and use facilities "consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
"The school board is abiding by state law and not enforcing an arbitrary policy," one speaker said. "The consequences for defying this law could include district-wide exclusion from all district-wide sports, loss of state funding, and lawsuits which could affect all of our students negatively."
Near the end of the public comment session, some community members pleaded to the board to settle the debate fairly.
"We are asking you as a board to please find a solution," a community member said.
Board members concluded Tuesday's meeting by thanking attendees for their civility during the discussion and expressing gratitude for the facility team, which increased seating capacity to accommodate the speakers.
