Manhattan’s largest school board district passed a resolution pressing the city to bar transgender girls from playing sports with teams that match their gender identity during a contentious meeting Wednesday night.
The resolution, which passed 8-3, asks the city to create a review committee that would examine the Department of Education’s gender guidelines permitting students to participate in school sports that align with their gender identity. But with schools Chancellor David Banks referring to the resolution as “despicable” it seems unlikely the city will give it much credence.
The effort comes amid a national debate over transgender rights as well as a local battle on Long Island where Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is trying to ban transgender students from certain athletics.
Parents and community members packed the offices of Community Education Council District 2 in Chelsea where the vote took place. The district is among the largest in the city and encompasses much of the Upper East Side as well as Lower Manhattan. Most speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting Wednesday night denounced the motion.
“Some kids are born taller, faster or more coordinated, but we don’t consider that unfair,” said District 2 parent and DOE employee Jared Danker. “Whatever this resolution’s intention is, its primary impact would be to marginalize, frighten, and discriminate against a group of students who need our affirmation and support.”
Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the ACLU and District 2 parent said the school district was not the right venue for the discussion.
“It is not the authority of New York City to say what Title Nine means … we don’t do civil rights law by committee,” Starngio said, referring to the federal statute barring sex discrimination in schools. “That’s not the purview of the way in which we do civil rights laws in this country.”
Maud Maron, the lead sponsor of the proposal insisted that it only seeks to examine…
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