Batavia school district’s post about transgender lawmaker stirs controversy

As part of an effort to honor groundbreaking women during Women’s History Month, Batavia School District 101 officials made a social media post March 12 about U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride,

The Democrat from Delaware was the first openly transgender person to be elected to a state senate in U.S. history, and now is the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.

“McBride was instrumental in lobbying the Delaware state legislature in 2013 to pass a law that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity,” according to the district’s post. “McBride went on to work as national press secretary for Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization.”

It didn’t take long for criticism to start.

Former Illinois lawmaker Jeanne Ives posted on X: “Batavia High School’s embarrassing and Woke tribute to a man for women’s history month.”

The Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet founded by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, reported that the school district “honored a biological male in celebration of Women’s History Month.”

The post then appeared to be taken down from the district’s page.

School District Communications Director Holly Deitchman said the post was removed as per legal advice.

“Comments will be turned off on future social media posts,” Deitchman added.

At the Monday, March 16 school board meeting, a dozen people spoke in favor of the McBride post and one speaker was critical. At the end of the meeting, school board members Kristin Gehrels, Danielle Sligar and Katy Swiecki thanked the community for their support.

“Happy spring break,” Swiecki said. “Happy Women’s History Month. Trans women are women. And all children belong in BPS 101.”

Paula Mueller was one of the speakers who praised the district.

“Sarah McBride is a powerful woman that has made strides in LGBTQ rights and the first transgender American elected to high public office,” Mueller said. “She’s a leader in an ongoing fight for human rights. And it was great comfort to see that Batavia is proud to stand with the marginalized community.”

Batavia parent Heather Dalmasso also defended the post.

“I know and care about a number of Batavia students who are of the LGBTQ community,” Dalmasso said. “They are not political talking points, they are real kids in this district.”

But resident Richard Dahleen called for the immediate firing of Dietchman.

“After that, I’m going to ask all you on the BPS 101 school board to resign for allowing lies and propaganda online,” Dahleen said. “In a single post, you brought disgrace and embarrassment to our entire school district, our community, the state and the entire country to see.”

However, resident Melissa Hem said she did not believe that the “slew of hateful comments that poured in from across the country … reflect the views of Batavians.”