GENDER IDENTITY DEADLOCK

Local residents filled seats and standing area alike Thursday evening as more than 60 people filed into a meeting of the Holyoke School District Board of Education. For the first hour, parents, community members, educators and a student entered into the fray to discuss district policies related to student gender identities.

Gender identity, as defined by House Bill 21-1108 – the Gender Identity Expression Anti-Discrimination Act – refers to the “innate sense of the individual’s own gender, which may or may not correspond with the individual’s sex assigned at birth.” According to the National Library of Medicine, transgender identities appear to have some “degree of genetic underpinning,” though it adds one’s environment or psychology “could also play a role.”

Three weeks earlier, former Board Director Jill Herr resigned her post, stating in a letter to the board that she “will not comply” with certain state laws concerning those “who identify other than the gender they were born.”

While she agrees with aspects of the May 2021 expansion of Colorado Anti-Discrimination Law – such as its assertion that those of all gender identities and expressions must be protected and given accommodations when possible – she could not affirm some of its further requirements. In particular, she cited a rule by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Civil Rights Commission, which states, “All [public] covered entities shall allow individuals the proper use of gender-segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity. Gender-segregated facilities include but are not limited to, restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms and dormitories.”

“My faith in God leads me to reject any laws that are against what God has taught us in creation and science,” she stated in an email. “Children must not be set on a path to increased gender confusion and destruction of their very lives. Straight students must not have personal privacy taken from them. Girls must not have sports taken from them.”

For the sports aspect, based on policy drafted by the Colorado High School Activities Association, transgender athletes who intend to compete must first undergo a confidential evaluation by their home schools to determine their gender assignment. The Association then will “review athletic eligibility decisions” based on that assignment, “in accordance with its approved policies and appeals procedures.”

“A transgender student shall participate in accordance with their gender identity,” the policy states. “To determine participation,” it continues, a school may use a student’s transcript and registration information, along with a written statement affirming the student’s gender identity. A school “may consider but may not require” other information, the policy states, such as documentation from individuals affirming said student’s identity; written verification of the identity from a health-care professional; or medical documentation regarding aspects of the student’s identity, such as hormone therapy or counseling. 

Students who are gender-fluid, or do not identify with a fixed gender, must undergo the same process as transgender students, then “select one gender to participate,” according to the policy.

Critics of transgender girls competing in female sports often state they have an advantage due to higher levels, on average, of muscle mass and testosterone. Supporters of their participation often counter with the importance of sports to one’s social skills and mental health; they also note that said advantages may be mitigated using puberty blockers and estrogen, though – as stated above – Association policy excludes this requirement.

Fourteen people spoke at the meeting, many opposing state application of anti-discrimination law and the Association’s sports policy; others noted the importance of community and student well-being. No one present, however, explicitly affirmed transgender students’ use of “gender-segregated facilities” or participation in sports.

To open the proceedings, Board Director Mike Brown requested the board consider a “Protecting Students Resolution” that declared the district’s support for Title IX of the Education Amendments, a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. The 1972 law’s “original and existing regulations,” the resolution states, “acknowledge physiological differences between male and female sexes.”

“Biological sex, male and female, is [an] objective, scientific fact,” the resolution states. “Denying the reality of biological truth destroys the foundation upon which education rests.”

To mix transgender students with those of their identity within bathrooms, locker rooms and showers would “make the schools culpable for anxiety, bullying, and possible sexual harassment or abuse, which schools are tasked to prevent,” according to the document. A 2021 study by the Williams Institute at the University of California found transgender people are over four times more likely to experience assault, sexual assault or rape than those who are not trans based on data from the 2017-18 National Crime Victimization Survey.

People “struggling with gender dysphoria” should be accomodated by single-stall restrooms, according to the resolution, should they be uncomfortable “using a communal facility designed for their biological sex.” By providing these facilities, according to the document, the school could avoid committing sex discrimination.

In recognizing Title IX’s “original and authentic meaning,” the resolution states, the school district may “be a historical and continuing pillar in upholding the rights and opportunities of women and girls.” The board, it concludes, “expresses its unwavering commitment to excellence in education for all” and resolves to empower “each student... to reach his or her full potential as a member of the next great generation of Americans.”

While the board let his resolution die without discussion, Brown holds out hope “that we can come up with a win-win that preserves everyone’s dignity.”

Resident Hannah Goodman recorded the meeting live: To see it, visit the “Holyokeans” Facebook page.