Conservative Education Activists Lose Vote on Trans Athletes, After Election Setback
Last month, the Community Education Council (CEC) for District 2 of the New York City public school system voted to rescind Resolution 248, which urged the City’s Department of Education (DOE) to bar transgender female athletes from participating in sports programs for girls, particularly in the Public School Athletic League.
The CEC is a panel of 12 elected members, who are responsible for advising on educational policies and providing input to the DOE on matters of concern to District 2, which includes Lower Manhattan, as well as the East Side south of 97th Street (with the exception of the Lower East Side) and the West Side south of 59th Street.
The panel’s enactment of this measure in 2024 sparked condemnation across New York City. CEC members who opposed it regularly attempted to repeal Resolution 248. But for almost a year, such a vote was not possible because CEC members who supported the original resolution would depart from meetings before the roll could be called, thus negating the required quorum and keeping the measure in place.
Elections this past June handed a rebuke to the faction of conservative activists who stirred controversy with this anti-trans resolution. (These activists also had opposed offering the admissions test for specialized high schools in languages other than English, and refused to disavow links to alleged extremist groups.) The June balloting unseated from the panel five of the seven candidates aligned with this faction.
When the CEC for District 2 met for the first time in the new academic year, on September 10, they voted on Resolution 283, which says, “CEC2 hereby affirms its support for transgender students in District 2…” and “CEC2 hereby rescinds Resolution 248.”
When the results of the vote (which carried by a margin of seven to three, with two abstentions) were announced, the packed room burst into cheers. For more than a year, community members, parents, students, elected officials, and civil rights advocates have attended CEC meetings, written letters, issued statements, and spoken publicly to express opposition to Resolution 248.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said, “Resolution 248 was hateful, and used transphobic language to call for the reconsideration of guidelines that were put in place to ensure that no student, regardless of their gender identity or expression, would be discriminated against. It is time for CEC2 to stand up for transgender students, to reject culture war ideology, and to get back to the business of supporting our students and our schools.”