Manhattan’s largest school board district trying to pass resolution that could lead to trans athlete ban

Manhattan’s largest neighborhood school board district is trying to pass a resolution that could lead to a ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
Community Education Council District 2 – which serves Manhattan from the Lower to the Upper East Side – will vote on a resolution Wednesday that would demand the city DOE allow a public review of its policy allowing transgender girls to play female sports.
Four members of the CEC D2 want community input on guidelines put in place in 2019 by NYC’s Public School Athletic League that allow trans participation, according to the proposal.
“We just want parents to be engaged,” member Leonard Silverman told The Post Wednesday ahead of the meeting. “I don’t know if there’s a solution that will please everyone, but parents need to be involved.”
While the measure doesn’t explicitly call for a trans ban in girls sports, one of its sponsors, council member Maud Maron, has advocated for such restrictions when she ran for Congress as a Democrat last year.
She said the proposal for a public review is to get a conversation going about who is allowed to play girls sports in school.
“The gender guidelines apply to all students, so all students should have had a say in developing them,” she told The Post. “True inclusivity means listening to everyone and listening to ideas you may not agree with.
“The resolution is advisory and merely asks for a review and redrafting of the gender guidelines after input from more stakeholders.”
The measure would not be little more than symbolic, as it would only serve as a request to DOE brass to hold a review of the policy — a policy the department backed in a statement Wednesday.
“At New York City Public Schools, all students have the right to have their gender, gender identity, and gender expression recognized and respected,” the statement said. “In our schools, every student can participate in sports and competitive athletics in accordance with their gender identity, and we prohibit any exclusion of students based on their gender identity or expression.”
4 Community Education Council District 2 – which serves parts of Lower Manhattan all the way to the Upper East Side – will vote on Resolution #248 Wednesday, which calls for a comprehensive review of NYC Department of Education’s Guidelines on Gender that allowed transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports inside public schools. Getty Images
The goal of the resolution is to have NYC public schools to review the DOE’s guidelines and to add parental involvement into decisions. They also want “transparency,” arguing that they don’t know how the initial decision was made.
Even though it is unlikely that, even if passed at a meeting Wednesday, the measure will get DOE attention, Silverman still thinks the discussion needs to be had.
“It’s a tough issue,” he said. “But we as a society need to come up with a solution.”
Like many have argued before, Silverman is aware that transgender athletes may have a biological advantage and poise risk to a “level playing field.”
As for a ban on transgender athletes, Silverman admits that discussion would come much later.
4 Maud Maron, who has long been accused of being anti-trans, said that female athletes from K-12, higher education, and professional sports have repeatedly been told “their concerns and interests don’t matter or that they need to take a backseat to other interests.” Stephen Yang
The resolution has already sparked backlash from NYC liberal groups, including Bigot Blockade, which argued the proposal is “false and based on the incorrect idea that allowing trans athletes to participate in sports lessens the experience of other student athletes,” it wrote in an online mail campaign, that has nearly 4,000 letters sent.
CEC councilmember Gavin Healy also condemned the resolution, telling the Daily News: “My first reaction is this is just a complete red herring; it’s a made-up issue. I’m not aware of any case of a student missing out on a trophy or medal or scholarship opportunity because of this policy.”
Maron has long been controversial for stances on trans issues. Healy ripped her in a Medium piece.
4 Allyson Bowen was among the four who wrote the proposal. One of the goals of the resolution is “transparency,” arguing that they don’t know how the initial decision was made. LinkedIn 4 Sabena Serinese was also one of the four to write the proposal, which could lead to a transgender athlete ban if passed tonight. Sabena Serinese/Facebook
Maron was also not invited to a Brooklyn Political Clubs event in 2022 while she was running for Congress for allegedly spreading “hate and misinformation around gender identity and the transgender community.”
In 2019, several high school students and alumni of District 2 schools started a Change.org petition calling for her resignation from the CEC board, stating that she made “problematic and ignorant comments” and has “consistently attempted to undermine the Department of Education’s push for more diverse and inclusive schools.”
The resolution isn’t the only push in New York to address transgender athletes on women’s sports team.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order blocking transgender athletes from sports at county-run facilities.