A school board meeting degenerated into a parade of competing hysterical tirades between each other concerned parents and transgender activists Thursday night amid a national controversy over a transgender athlete on the cross country team.
The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) held a board meeting at its office in Riverside, California, to address concerns about Martin Luther King High School student-athletes and students being punished for wearing shirts that read “Save Girls’ Sports.”
The meeting came after weeks of preparation when hundreds of students from Martin Luther King High School and other schools in the district wore the T-shirts, against the school’s wishes. Hundreds of students have gathered every Wednesday to wear the T-shirts, and many were taken into custody for wearing them until schools stopped disciplining students the week of December 11.
Ahead of the rally, competing protests between pro-transgender activists and “Save Girls’ Sports” activists gathered outside the RUSD district office.
As the meeting began, speakers were invited to share their thoughts on the situation. Many of the parents who spoke out against the district for allowing the trans athlete to compete with girls came to wear the T-shirts themselves.
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One of the first parents to speak out against the district for allowing trans inclusion was a mother identified only as Sandy R. The mother complained hysterically about her name being revealed to the pro-trans activists outside the meeting room. She feared being “doxxed” for her views and said she plans to file a harassment complaint.
Sandy then berated the entire board for defying Title IX in favor of California state law.
Another parent pointed out that the school district’s science curriculum even includes textbooks that teach the genetic differences between biological males and females. The mother pulled out the ninth-grade biology textbook and read a passage explaining that men are born with the XY chromosomes, while women are born with XX chromosomes.
She then held up photos of the students being punished for wearing shirts that read “XX (does not equal) XY.”
“This is what you did to students who wore the shirt I am wearing tonight because they claimed a biological fact that is in your textbook, which is part of your curriculum. Are we going to put tape on the textbooks now? Is that what’s going to happen? happen, we’re not going to teach science?” she shouted. “You deny biological facts so as not to hurt someone’s feelings, and that’s not okay!”
The mother then referenced an allegation in a recent lawsuit filed by two of the school’s cross-country girls that the school compared their T-shirts to swastikas.
Another mother, identified only as Colleen, was screaming before she even approached the stage, criticizing the board for allowing pro-trans activists in the office to applaud pro-trans sentiment, likening it to their engaging with young men who want to transition into women’s sports for a competitive advantage.
“Your job is to teach these people self-control, and you’re not doing it!” she shouted. “It’s all about their self-esteem, and you’re setting them up for failure! They won’t hand the world over to them. The world won’t adapt because ‘I can’t succeed in this sport, so ‘now I’m going to compete in this sport because I can do better there. It’s ridiculous! Teach these kids self-control before it’s too late!
Later, a mother named Maria Karillo began her speech by warning all the children in the room to leave. She then recited sexually explicit lines from school-approved books available at RUSD high schools to make a point, before criticizing the school for labeling concerned parents as “agitators, MAGA disruptors.”
“We are parents here caring for our children, and we are using our constitutional right to talk to you, the leaders of our community, about our children’s problems,” she said. “I want to know why the teachers union is sending us emails calling us cruel.”
A mother named Patty Clauda, who spoke Spanish with the help of an English interpreter, began her tirade by mocking the school board for not knowing the difference between a man and a woman, before expressing fear that girls would have to share locker rooms with biological males. .
“They change before the eyes of men!” she said through the translator.
Students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, wear T-shirts that read “Save Girls’ Sports” to protest a trans athlete on the cross country team. (Courtesy of Sophia Lorey)
At the end of her tirade, Clauda stopped using her translator to speak directly to the board in English, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“What I actually find more concerning is that there are real biological women standing before me, and you are not standing up for the young ladies in this school district, and you are allowing these young ladies to be abused, harassed and discriminated against! create a hostile environment for these children to get an education!’ Clauda shouted.
Several concerned parents called for Superintendent Renee Hill’s resignation during their respective speeches.
At one point, a female student-athlete was even given the opportunity to speak and became emotional as she expressed that as a biological female, she has no realistic chance of competing against biological males.
“In no universe will the most devoted woman beat the most devoted man,” she said, choking up.
But pro-transgender activists also got the chance to speak. Multiple speakers expressing support for trans inclusion thanked the board for allowing trans athletes to compete with girls and encouraged the board to continue to enable and protect that athlete.
One transactivist event went so far as to falsely claim that the XY chromosome is disappearing from the human gene pool and that all humans will eventually be born with the XX chromosome.
Many of the pro-trans speeches were met with loud cheers and the omission of LGBTQ pride flags by attendees.
California has had laws in place since 2014 to protect transgender athletes in women’s sports. AB 1266 went into effectGive California students at the scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and to use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, regardless of the gender identified in the data of the student is listed. “
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In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
“It is important to remember that RUSD is required to follow California law, which requires that students be ‘permitted to participate in single-sex school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, regardless of stated gender’. in the student’s records,” the statement said.
The school said those upset by it should direct their anger at state and federal lawmakers.
“While these cases play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests must be focused on those in a position to influence these laws and policies, including officials in Washington, DC and Sacramento,” the statement said.
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