Quilcene School District latest in WA to ban trans athletes in sports
(The Center Square) – Tensions ran high at a recent Quilcene School Board meeting as the board debated and then adopted a resolution on a 3 to 2 vote to ban transgender athletes from competing in school sports.
Quilcene is in Jefferson County, south of Port Townsend.
“I don’t think there’s anything here that a shower curtain couldn’t solve,” Board Member Viviann Kuehl said at the May 7 meeting in voting against the measure.
Kuehl argued that the issue of trans athletes in school sports is not an issue at this point in Quilcene because the district doesn’t have any transgender athletes. She said she did the math and found the district should expect only one transgender athlete every 2,000 years.
“I’m saying the issue has been forced on our community. Especially where people disrobe; we have to think about this stuff,” Board Member Ron Frantz said, ultimately supporting the resolution.
During public testimony, there was passionate debate on both sides of the issue.
“The potential of lost funding should have been enough to discourage you from going down this avenue,” testified one woman in opposition to the resolution. “But you’re focused on pursuing your own personal agenda.”
Another man voiced the opposing view.
“Anyone with a teenage daughter … why let that boy who wears girls’ clothes who we used to call transvestites, go into a girls locker room to shower or change clothes or just go to the bathroom?” he asked.
Board Member Jim Hodgson urged support for the resolution.
“Title IX has been in effect since 1972. It ensures that in male sports and in female sports they will be treated equally in terms of financial assets given to groups and that all facilities used by the two groups will be of equal quality,” he said. “Since Title IX is a federal law, all states have to be in compliance with federal law.”
The board’s legal counsel, Curtis Leonard, was asked for his input, but deferred, saying any legal advice he gives would be offered in executive session and not on the public record.
Kuehl suggested board members supporting the resolution don’t speak for their constituents.
“This is not something coming from our community, it’s coming from you,” she said. “It’s not something that I think is pertinent, fair, or moral.”
Hodgson said he is confident the district’s position is not isolated.
“I’m in communication with several other school districts, and we have between 20 and 30 other districts that at this point and time are willing to enter into a class action lawsuit to challenge OSPI’s directive,” he said.
OSPI is the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
There are multiple legal challenges in the works related to the issue of trans athletes in school sports, including, as reported by The Center Square, a complaint filed by the Washington Parents Network that names several districts resisting OSPI’s mandate to include trans students in girls’ sports and bathrooms.
In April, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would investigate the state OSPI over alleged Title IX and VI violations.
“My job as the leader of this constitutional office is to communicate, uphold, and enforce the law,” Superintendent Chris Reykdal emailed The Center Square. “My office will enforce our current laws as we are required to do until Congress changes the law and/or federal courts invalidate Washington state’s laws. Unless, and until that happens, we will be following Washington state’s laws, not a president’s political leanings expressed through unlawful orders."
The Center Square contacted OSPI for comment on Quilcene's resolution but did not receive a response.
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