Queensbury school board stops non-resident father Brian from speaking about his daughter’s discomfort with a transgender student in the girls’ locker room, which sparked a heated debate.
Kayla Stone, a mother from the Queensbury area, shared a video of her partner, Brian, at the school board meeting, sharing what happened at Queensbury Union Free School District.
In her Facebook post, she explained that parents had already brought up concerns at the last meeting about a boy who now identifies as a girl using the girls’ locker room to change for gym class and also using the girls’ bathroom with the door open while urinating.
She said the school’s response was that they would find a separate “safe place” for the other girls to change and use the restroom instead of addressing the situation directly.
According to Kayla, this shows the school cares more about protecting the feelings of that one child than about the privacy and safety of all the girls.
She wrote:
The answer to this is that the school will find “a safe place for your girls to change and use the bathroom.” The simple answer is that they care more about this little “boys” feelings then they do the safety of our GIRLS.
Kayla Stone
She went on to describe how Brian prepared a speech for this most recent board meeting because their daughter attends the school and has been directly affected.
Even though their daughter has been a student there for the past three years, the board refused to let him speak because he doesn’t live inside the district boundaries.
Kayla wrote that Brian is a devoted father, uncle, and coach who simply wanted to stand up for their little girl and the other young girls in the same position.
After the meeting, she said they had to comfort their daughter in the parking lot as she cried because she felt the school didn’t care about her safety.
Kayla asked people to share the short video clip she was able to record and to spread the word because parents want to protect their children, while, in her view, the school seems more worried about feelings and funding.
Many appreciated Kayla and Brian for standing up for the girls.
A comment read, “Haven’t known Brian very long but the love he has for his daughter and the heart and soul he puts into coaching these others girls is amazing and go to such lengths to fight for them is amazing he doesn’t back down from anything and he won’t stop until he is heard.”
However, some weren’t happy with it, and one of them is Kylie Noelle, who shared her side of the story on her own Facebook page.
Kylie explained that a video has been going around showing a man who doesn’t live in the district claiming his daughter felt uncomfortable because a transgender student was using the girls’ locker room and bathrooms.
She pointed out that the father was not allowed to speak because board rules only permit public comments from people who actually reside in the district.
Kylie called many of the statements in the video hearsay and said they seemed to come from bias rather than facts. She wrote:
It is disheartening and deeply troubling to see such effort directed toward marginalizing the transgender community.
Kylie Noelle
She wrote that there is no proof of any real safety danger and that this kind of talk only spreads fear and hurts transgender kids.
Kylie invited anyone who wants to support transgender students and show basic kindness to come to the next board meeting on January 12th at 7 PM at Queensbury High School.
She said every student deserves to feel safe and be themselves at school, including transgender students, and she doesn’t want a small loud group to push ideas that leave some kids out or make them feel unwelcome.
Kylie ended her post, “Also for those coming from Kayla’s page from sharing this .. my comments aren’t off, post is public , Im not friends w her but she’s commenting. I live in the district very much so and am involved in happenings.”
