Public commenter urges board not to exclude transgender student-athletes

An unnamed public commenter used the meeting’s public-comment period to urge the Quincy School District board to uphold the district’s stated values and not to adopt a proposal to exclude transgender students from school athletics.

The commenter opened by invoking the district’s stated principle: "it is our Collective responsibility to create an environment where all students are safe, seen, heard, celebrated and culturally accepted," and asked the board to keep that standard in mind when considering the board president’s proposal to exclude transgender student-athletes from participation. The speaker said they were unaware of current issues in Quincy schools involving transgender athletes and warned against repeating what the speaker described as the "hatred and misinformation" that swirled around recent national controversies.

Citing the Trevor Project, the commenter said LGBTQIA youth face higher suicide risk and argued that mistreatment and stigmatization—not gender identity—drive that risk. The speaker urged the board not to "join in stigmatizing and mistreating transgender students," asked the board to take the matter seriously and not to rush to any decision that could put already‑vulnerable students at risk. No exchange or immediate board response is recorded in the transcript during the public-comment period; the board’s rules were read earlier indicating the public-comment period is not a time for back-and-forth dialogue.

The public comment concluded without a recorded board action on the proposal mentioned by the speaker.