LGBTQ+ activists are fighting a Manhattan school district’s plan to ban trans athletes

Manhattan’s largest school district may soon ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams. But LGBTQ+ allies and New York Attorney General Letitia James are pushing back against such bans, calling them discriminatory and illegal.

Community Education Council [CEC] 2 — which includes large parts of Lower Manhattan and its Upper East Side — will vote on a non-binding resolution to form a committee to propose changes to the district’s current sports participation rules. The committee would include female athletes, parents, coaches, relevant medical professionals, and evolutionary biology experts. They would discuss the impact of trans-inclusion on female athletes.

Related:

Ithaca, New York declares itself a safe haven for trans people

While New York State already has similar protections in place, the Council passed the bill in case state law ever changes.

“Girls and women lose when their hard fought and won sports opportunities are ignored in favor of replacing sex with gender identity as a category,” said the resolution’s lead sponsor, CEC member Maud Maron.

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Maron is the co-president of PLACE NYC, a so-called parental rights in education group. She has previously claimed, “There is no such thing as trans kids.” She is also the former interim executive director of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, an “anti-woke” and anti-trans organization that opposes anti-racism education in schools. The resolution is also co-sponsored by Charles Love, who headlined a recent Manhattan event by the anti-LGBTQ+ parents rights group Moms for Liberty.

Since 2019, the New York City Department of Education has allowed students to play on school sports teams matching their gender identity.

The resolution says the department may not have consulted female athletes, coaches, sports medicine doctors, or evolutionary biology experts when creating its 2019 policy. Rather the policy was “developed by the City’s first LGBTQ Liaison and stakeholders who were already supportive” of it. The resolution claims the policy may disadvantage cisgender female athletes’ access to “team roster spots, titles, awards, records, scholarships, achievements and [other] opportunities.”

But LGBTQ+ allies are fighting back.

“My first reaction is this is just a complete red herring; it’s a made-up issue,” said CEC member Gavin Healy, according to the NY Daily News. “I’m not aware of any case of a student missing out on a trophy or medal or scholarship opportunity because of this policy.” He said he has spoken to families with trans members who feel the resolution is an attack on them and their identities.

A local group called Bigot Blockade has also started a petition asking people to speak out against the resolution.

“Statements of the gender identity policy ‘hurting female athletes’ [are] false and based on the incorrect idea that allowing trans students to participate in sports lessens the experience of other student athletes,” the petition says. “This trans-exclusionary feminism is harmful to all students, especially LGBTQIA+ students.”

In early March, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman after he issued an executive order banning trans women from participating on women’s sports teams in over 100 athletic centers across Long Island. His order requires every member of an athletic team to designate their sex assigned at birth when joining.

“The law is perfectly clear: you cannot discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression. We have no room for hate or bigotry in New York,” said James. “This executive order is transphobic and blatantly illegal. Nassau County must immediately rescind the order, or we will not hesitate to take decisive legal action.”

The administration of President Joe Biden has directed schools to allow trans and nonbinary students to use names, pronouns, and school facilities – including bathrooms and sports teams – that match their gender identity. Some Republican-led states and school districts have responded with anti-trans policies that deny bathroom and locker room access, forcibly out trans kids to their potentially unsupportive parents, and ban other gender-affirming policies for minors.