Tensions flare at school board meeting after trans athlete wins multiple track events
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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.

The Naperville 203 Community School District Board meeting was at times contentious, with roughly 100 people in attendance, split between the main room and an overflow viewing area.

Those in support of the trans athlete waved the blue, pink and white striped transgender flag, while those advocating for athletes to compete against people of the same biological sex held signs reading “Protect girls sports” and “Defend Title IX,” a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Dorothy Powers speaks about transgender athlete

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.

Trans flag and track and field split image

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. 

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