Speakers again debate transgender students’ access to sports teams at District 211 meeting
Supporters and critics of a state law enabling transgender students to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity again debated the issue at the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board meeting Thursday.
The conversation continued from an August meeting when both factions responded to a report that a transgender student had joined a girls volleyball team at Conant High School.
Paul Dombrowski, a retired teacher in Palatine Township Elementary District 15 and recent co-founder of the Northwest Suburban Pride & Action Network (NSPAN), decried having heard the 14-year-old freshman had withdrawn from the team as a result of the controversy.
“Prohibiting students from participating in or competing in school sports that align with their gender identity constitutes discrimination under the Illinois law,” he said. “This is law in Illinois. Presidential executive orders are not laws.”
But Angela Christman, the mother of a current member of the team, said the transgender student was still practicing with the players despite having decided not to compete. She complained that it was her daughter who was recommended counseling for feeling uncomfortable about sharing a locker room with a biological male.
“These angry activists who criticize us for looking out for our own children will say that trans students deserve to live their truth and participate in the fullest extent of all high school activities,” Christman said. “Yet this truth was delivered to the girls on the Conant volleyball team in the form of the threat of a lawsuit if the transgender student didn’t make the team.”
Ultimately 13 people spoke in support of the transgender student and current state and district policy, while nine spoke against the practice.
Even after the general public comment had closed, resident Stacy Gale spoke during the separate public hearing on District 211’s annual budget urging consideration of President Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw federal funding from schools allowing transgender students born male to compete on a girls sports team.
Palatine resident Vicki Wilson suggested the balance of opinions the board of education was hearing from was distorted by online appeals to attend the meeting from such nonlocal groups as Trans Up Front Illinois and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
“For 10 years, people inside and outside our community have fed young people malicious lies in order to further their own selfish agendas,” Wilson said.
But Conant senior Noah Rodriguez said he felt protective of the school community itself, of which transgender students are a part.
“Those transgender people deserve to be treated just like any of us — as people who feel scared when people point fingers at them,” he said. “Who feel, perhaps, a little bit cornered when people call them names, perhaps incorrect names. Without these people, this community would not be the same place.”
Members of the board didn’t comment on the issue.