Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Riverside Unified School District (RSD) in California hosted a board meeting on Thursday in the midst of controversy over a transgender cross country runner at Martin Luther King High School and students reprimanded for protesting the athlete’s participation.
The board meeting will address recent allegations in a lawsuit that school administrators compared “Save Girls’ Sports” T-shirts on swastikas.
Protesters gathered outside the RUSD district office, arguing for and against transgender inclusion.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS REPORTS ON FOXNEWS.COM
Video footage of the meeting provided by parents to California Family Outreach Director Sophie Lorey showed a crowd of people raising a transgender pride flag and wearing matching colored shirts.
Lorey told Fox News Digital that several people outside the venue wore T-shirts that read “Save Girls’ Sports,” but were outnumbered by transgender activists.
The California Family Council, together with the religious rights law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom, held press conference in front of the district office before the meeting of the committee dealing with the pending dispute.
Ryan Starks, the father of a girl at the school named Taylor who is involved in a lawsuit against the school, spoke at a news conference. The lawsuit alleges that Taylor lost her place at the university to a transgender athlete and that her t-shirt was compared to a swastika in opposition to the competing athlete.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what my daughter has been through this season,” Starks said.
“This is unfair. This is completely unfair. It breaks my heart as a father to see my daughter go through this and for her to be taken off her, to come up to me and just hug me. And there’s nothing I can do about it. So, it’s just heartbreaking.”
The attorney representing Taylor in the lawsuit, Julianne Fleischer, previously told Fox News Digital that the rhetoric from school administrators was “incredibly dangerous.”
“When you have adults comparing the ‘Save Girls’ Sports’ message that promotes equality, fairness, common sense — when you have adults comparing that message to the swastika, which represents the genocide of millions of Jews, really, there are no words, I don’t know how you’re going to respond to that to answer,” Fleischer said.
Hundreds of Martin Luther King High School students began wearing the shirts every Wednesday. The school responded by enacting a dress code that resulted in many of those students being sent to detention. But that didn’t stop them. Students continued to wear the shirts weekly.
The school recently stopped enforcing a dress code for shirts.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Sources told Fox News officials at nearby Arlington High School, Riverside Polytechnic High School and Romona High School also saw students wearing them.
In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the team because it had to comply with California state law.
Girls at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, Calif., wear T-shirts that say “Save Girls’ Sports” to protest a transgender athlete on the cross country team. (Submitted by Sophia Lorey)
“It’s important to remember that RUSD is required to follow California law, which requires students to be ‘allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, regardless of the gender specified in student records’, the press release states.
“As these things play out in our courts and media, opposition and protests should be directed at those who can influence these laws and policies, including officials in Washington, DC and Sacramento.”
California has had laws protecting transgender athletes in women’s sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effectgiving California students at the school and university level the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, regardless of the gender listed on the student’s record.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports broadcast on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
