New York City Democrats asked a group of elected parent leaders to rescind a resolution that could prevent transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity, panning the measure as “hateful, discriminatory, and actively harmful” to students.
In March, Community Education Council District 2, a parent-led advisory board representing one of Manhattan’s largest local districts, approved a resolution calling for a “comprehensive review” of city guidelines that since 2019 have allowed transgender student-athletes to participate in accordance with their gender identity. The current guidelines, they argued, “present challenges to youth athletes and coaches.”
New York City Public Schools should “immediately convene” a review committee that includes female athletes, parents and coaches, as well as “relevant medical professionals and evolutionary biology experts,” states the resolution, which is non-binding. City education department officials have said the department will reject the resolution and has no intention of revising the current guidelines.
LGBTQ state Democrats in March said they “stand firmly against” the resolution and “any attempts to undermine the rights and dignity of transgender individuals.”
The resolution, they said, “is based on the false premise that the gender identity policy negatively impacts female athletes, and stems from the misguided notion that the inclusion of transgender students in sports diminishes the experience of other student athletes.”
On Monday, a coalition of 18 Democratic elected officials from New York, including Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), called for the resolution to be formally rescinded.
“Our school system must stand for justice and equity, not bigotry and hate,” they wrote in a letter to board members. “Our community education councils must be fighting for every student, not attack, ridicule, or marginalize the vulnerable. We stand firmly in support of trans people everywhere, and urge that the CEC does the same.”
The officials argued that while some parents say they were “simply asking for a conversation” in introducing the resolution, “that conversation was based in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that is spreading in our country, state, city, and school districts, and the impact is heartbreaking.”
Half the country has moved to bar transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity through state-level legislation.
A Nassau County executive order barring transgender women and girls from participating in female athletic events was struck down this month, after New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) called the order “transphobic and blatantly illegal.”