SLO County residents call on school board to ban transgender athletes in sports
The growing debate over transgender athletes’ participation in school sports hit the North County on Tuesday night as a starkly divided crowd packed a Paso Robles school board meeting.
While there was no item on the agenda related to transgender athletes, 10 people spoke on the topic during public comment — eight opposing policies that allow transgender girls to play on girls sports teams and two who spoke in support of trans youth.
And many more supporters waited in the crowd for their turn to speak but were cut off by a board policy limiting public comment to 20 minutes per topic.
Still, their message was clear with some waving LGBTQ+ pride flags visibly in the background as community members spoke out against trans athletes at the podium. Others carried posters and signs with messages supporting trans youth or countering what they called fascist overreach.
Some members of the audience elected not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the meeting — and many of those who did recite it echoed “justice for all” loudly and pointedly toward other members of the audience and the school board.
Over a dozen in the crowd were clad in rainbow-colored clothing and jewelry or wore shirts labeled with messages like “support trans youth.” In contrast, others wore shirts labeled with “Save Girls Sports,” aligning them with the group that formed in the South County.
The meeting marked the latest in a series of protests and school board meeting debates over transgender girls’ participation in girls sports in San Luis Obispo County — conversations that have increased since President Donald Trump took office in January and subsequently issued a series of executive orders targeting transgender students and athletes.
The Lucia Mar school district recently saw its share of conflict after the Save Girls Sports group, including a current Arroyo Grande High School student, spoke out against a transgender athlete in the district in April.
The testimonies prompted a rally that drew hundreds to a district meeting on May 6.
Some call on board to pass resolution against trans athletes
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the Paso Robles Democratic Club shared a post on Instagram encouraging community members to show up in support of LGBTQ+ youth.
A screenshot of the post was later shared in the PRotect Paso Facebook group by school board member Kenney Enney.
“I keep asking ‘where are the dads?’” Enney wrote in the post. “On Tuesday the purple hair mafia plans on protesting at PRJUSD. Will any dads stand up to defend their daughters?”
Ultimately, supporters of both crowds did show up.
Two supporters of trans athletes were permitted to speak Tuesday night.
Testimony began with Janice Mundee, a longtime Paso Robles resident who said she also served as an educator for over 20 years.
She said the focus on trans athletes was a distraction from the other issues that impact schools, such as bullying, mental health problems and school lockdowns.
“These are not abstract issues. They’re urgent and they affect every family,” Mundee said. “Meanwhile, trans kids are just trying to exist.”
She continued: “All of our kids are struggling. They’re anxious, depressed and afraid. Teachers are underpaid and overwhelmed. These are the crises that we should be tackling together, so let’s stop punching down on the most vulnerable and start lifting all students up.”
Next to speak was Amy Salas, who posed a series of questions to the board and audience.
“Do you believe a tween, teen male would go to such an extreme effort to make himself into a woman just so he could beat the girls on the tennis court?” Salas asked. “If you’re a parent of a high school girl, do you think she faces more trauma from: A) a possible trans person in a locker room or bathroom, B) the usual everyday harassing behavior of boys just being boys? Or even worse, other girls in the bathroom and locker room?”
Following Salas, a series of community members spoke in opposition to school policies that allow trans girls to play on girls sports teams.
These included Linda Becker, former Paso Robles school board trustee Frank Triggs, and Gaea Powell, an Arroyo Grande resident and known critic of school and local government policies inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities.
Becker said transgender girls’ participation in sports endangers the success of other female athletes.
“The integrity of female sports is being challenged by male athletes who identify as female and compete against girls,” she said. “This creates an unfair advantage, since male athletes typically possess greater muscle strength and other physical advantages, which undermines decades of hard work and dedication by female athletes.”
Becker referred to recent decisions by other California school districts to take action on the issue, including a decision by the Redland Unified School District in San Bernardino County, which approved a resolution to uphold “fairness” in girls sports, CalMatters reported.
She encouraged Paso Robles to follow suit, referring to federal Title IX policy and Trump’s executive order targeting transgender athletes.
“We must have the courage to stand up for what is right,” she said. “Protecting girls and women’s sports is about fairness, equality and respecting the hard work of female athletes. Let’s support the policies that defend their rights and ensure a level playing field for all.”
Triggs also called on the district to create a resolution.
During his testimony, he took the stance that being transgender was “impossible” due to XX and XY chromosomes — a statement that garnered laughter from audience members.
Meeting attendee and SLO County organizer Morgan Rardin told The Tribune after the meeting that statements like Triggs’ ignore the realities of intersex individuals, who may have chromosomes that diverge from the XX or XY binary.
At the conclusion of his testimony, Triggs issued his call to action.
“I would like to call upon this board to make it a matter of a resolution to keep boys out of girls sports,” Triggs said. “Protect them, because when they are participating, they are putting those ladies at risk, and that is unfair, unjust. So, how about some courage? Stand up for what’s right.”
Powell, who spoke after Triggs and was the last speaker the board heard from on the topic Tuesday night, described California laws supporting transgender participation in sports as “police-state dictates.” She also called out Gov. Gavin Newsom and what she said were “unjust laws that are trampling all over our rights, particularly the rights of girls and women.”
She also claimed that LGBTQ+ communities were oppressing women and girls.
Following Powell’s testimony, trustee Sondra Williams announced the conclusion of the board’s 20-minute comment period on the topic. Some members of the audience expressed frustration that only two people spoke in support of LGBTQ+ youth, when there were plenty who had signed up to do so.
Many members of the crowd who had shown up to speak on either side gathered outside after the meeting, which is when Rardin, who was not able to speak during public comment, spoke with The Tribune.
Rardin told The Tribune that if the school board were to pass a resolution that some members of the audience were pushing for, it would violate state regulations.
“Please uphold the state laws and just do what’s right,” Rardin said.
Rardin, who identifies as nonbinary, said they believed it was important to show up Tuesday night to support LGBTQ+ youth.
“There was no one there for me as a kid, so this is the least I can do,” they said.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM.
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