District 2 Community Education Council Votes to Limit Transgender Students

By Arthur Schwartz

In late March the District 2 Community Education Council (which includes the Village) voted to ask the Department of Education to “review” whether transgender students should be allowed to play in girls’ sports (that match their gender identity). The resolution came from Maude Maron, a former City Council candidate, who has become associated with Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group sponsoring book bans across the country. It passed by a vote of 8-3. The majority of the public hearing speakers–and many Manhattan politicians–slammed the resolution.

Len Silverman, who spoke and voted in favor of the resolution, claimed that “evolving definitions of gender” had “real-world consequences” for cisgender women. He cited the right-wing transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner as his source.

The advisory vote by the school board appears unlikely to be well received by the Department of Education. Schools Chancellor David Banks called the resolution “despicable” and “hateful.”

State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Council Member Erik Bottcher, NYS Assembly Members Deborah Glick and Tony Simone released a statement which reads:

“It is utterly shocking that such a regressive and harmful resolution is being proposed in a school district that covers much of Manhattan, including the neighborhoods of Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea and Greenwich Village, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, and neighborhoods that are home to the largest LGBTQ communities in the United States…..

“Resolution #248 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.”