Tensions arose at a school board meeting in Chicago on Monday, following a trans junior high student’s victories in several events at a local track meet.
The Naperville 203 Community School District Board meeting was occasionally heated, drawing around 100 attendees, divided between the main room and an additional overflow area.
Supporters of the trans athlete displayed the blue, pink, and white-striped transgender flag, whereas those favoring competition based on biological sex held signs saying “Protect girls sports” and “Defend Title IX,” which is a federal civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in education.
Speaker Dorothy Powers talks about the transgender athlete controversy at the Naperville 203 Community School District Board meeting. The controversy centered around a biological male who competed in a 7th grade track meet against biological females at the Naper Prairie Conference Meet. (Fox News)
Parent Tim Thompson said the controversy is not truly about races or a specific athlete, but rather part of a broader effort to target transgender students.
“Don’t be fooled. It was never about a race, and it was never about an athlete,” Thompson said. “This is an attempt to further marginalize the group and tell them that they don’t belong, that they aren’t good enough.”
Awake Illinois has filed a civil rights complaint against the district, with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights alleging a violation of Title IX.
They called on federal funds to be withheld from the district, which it says receives between $8 million and $9 million in federal grants annually. The complaint is part of a broader effort by Awake Illinois, which previously filed similar Title IX complaints against other districts and the Illinois State Board of Education.
Shannon Adcock of Awake Illinois also spoke out at the meeting.
Parents and residents clashed at a school board meeting in Chicago on Monday after a trans junior high school student won multiple events at a local track meet. (Getty Images)
“Now in 2025, you’ve got boys stealing girls’ victories, leaving young girls sobbing on the track,” Adcock said. “This isn’t inclusion. It’s oppression.”
Meanwhile, Lauren Hruby said that a solution may be to give trans students a different class of sports to compete against one another.
“But I think for women, I don’t think we stand a chance against a male,” she said. “I know a lot of these girls practice their entire life to try to get a scholarship, and there’s a lot lost opportunities, so I just wanted to come and support women in women’s sports.”
Fox News’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.
