Meeting gets heated, prompting officials to ask for ‘civility’
By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — After a heated discussion between school officials and residents alike, the Claremont School Board voted to table action on a policy designed to protect transgender and nonconforming students until further review by the school district attorney and the policy committee.
The three-page policy, which was signed into effect on Sept. 21, 2016, requires that all programs, activities, and employment practices be free from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. It states that it is designed to create a safe learning environment for all students and ensure that there is equal access to programs.
The school board received recommendation from legal counsel that the policy be rescinded because federal funding could be compromised in the wake of recent executive orders by President Donald Trump. On the agenda, the policy had the word “removal” next to it, and this alarmed many members of the public.
Most of the residents in attendance spoke about the danger to students that removal of this policy would pose to transgender and nonconforming students. One was Hanna Brooks, who noted that 28% of transgender youth in New Hampshire high schools have attempted suicide in the past year.
“What’s more important, the fear of federal funds being pulled or the lives of our students?” Brooks inquired.
Anna O’Hara, who is a former student of Stevens High School, spoke in “strong opposition” of the removal of the policy.
“This policy does not grant special privileges,” she said. “It provides basic protections allowing students to use facilities where they feel safe and promoting inclusivity in school sports. Removing it sends a clear and harmful message that some students’ well-being is negotiable.”
Jess Dyer asked how they will still protect these children if this is stripped. She wanted to make it clear that when they choose to remove protections and basic human rights for a select group of students, it sends a message to all students.
Cameron Lownie, a teacher at Disnard Elementary School, said the children need to be emotionally safe and to not “throw our most vulnerable kids under the bus.”
Former board member Jen Gallagher added, “Removing this policy negates the safety and personalization of their learning environment.”
‘Justice for All’
All but two in the audience were in opposition to the policy’s removal, which included Wayne Hemingway, who is a state representative, city councilor and a father of a Claremont Middle School student.
“We say justice for all, and I know I probably won’t get an applause when I leave, but, we have to look at the other side of the coin,” Hemingway said. “Where is the justice for the non-trans? I have nothing against any trans, or any gay, or LGBTQ person. I will talk to you just as any person. I will respect your opinions.”
He said he has questions about the policy, but there are provisions in there that don’t protect everyone in the schools.
“When you allow a male into a female bathroom without the separations and abilities to give them privacy as the policy says, then we are putting our children in a position where they could be harmed,” Hemingway said. “Do we not have privacy and doors in our bathrooms, that a single person uses, in our houses? Then why do we not allow that in the schools? I have no problem with any person, I just want protection and justice for all, and the fair treatment for everyone.”
Hemingway then said, “Let me just restate that. We need to make sure that every child is safe, not just your transgender, not just your LGBTQ community, every single child that goes to that school needs to have the ability to be safe.”
Immediately after, Sam Torres spoke out against Hemingway, which garnered cheers and applause from the crowd.
“Mr. Hemingway seems pretty concerned about what happens in women’s restrooms and the safety, and I just want to say as a female I have never once felt threatened in a bathroom,” she said. “If a man were to come into the bathroom, I would be more threatened by a man like you than any queer person I’ve ever met.”
School Board member Candace Crawford initially made a motion for enforcement of the policy to be suspended until speaking with the attorney and policy subcommittee. However, newly elected member Loren Howard made a motion to not suspend but rather table the discussion.
“In the email we got from the attorney, a lot of the language could include withholding federal funds. It is unclear what specific revisions will be required,” Howard said. “They also say the ever-changing law is a problem in reviewing this, so I think based on all those things and us not having a timeline from the federal government, and an actual explicit threat to pull Claremont’s funding, there’s no reason to remove this policy, especially after hearing from the public tonight.”
He added, “This has been policy almost 10 years and has not resulted in any negative cases to my knowledge.”
Howard said that the board received the email from legal counsel at 3:48 p.m., and said it was “hardly enough time” to review it. He said there was a lot of “uncertain language,” and that the best way to go about this would be to table it. Crawford said she supported this and accepted a “friendly amendment” by Howard to be in place.
The Topic of Consent
Claremont School Board Chair Heather Whitney said she considers herself an ally of the LGBTQ community, but she was supporting suspension of the policy.
“The idea of having a masculine presence anywhere in a place where that person would feel safe without their consent is not only a terrifying prospect for me, but individuals I care for,” she said. “Beyond that, I believe that I have some feminist principles and I’ve been around long enough to remember that women couldn’t get a credit card in their own name, or a loan, so I’m extremely protective of women’s spaces.”
She said feminists fought hard to create spaces for them and she thinks there is a way where both principles can exist fairly, adding that her work in health care has sometimes included participation in gender affirming procedures. Her mention of the plethora of male sex organs she’s seen in her line of work prompted an outburst from the audience who felt it wasn’t applicable to the situation.
“I am speaking. I am speaking,” she responded. “This is my concern and why I am in favor of suspension, because I believe there are more rights on the table here. I am very protective of women’s spaces and I’m very protective of Title IX. I think there is a way both can coexist respectfully.”
Whitney relayed a personal story where she didn’t consent to a “fully intact” male sharing a dressing room with her at work, ultimately saying she wasn’t frightened but felt like a conversation about men in women’s spaces should be had.
Howard replied in turn to Whitney, saying if a male or female is predatory and wants to enter a space, they will do it without having to be transgender. He also said there are masculine women and trans men with beards, so what she was saying that a trans man with a beard would have to use a female bathroom, creating another issue.
This received more applause from the audience.
“No one wants to be molested in a locker room,” he said. “I don’t think our policy enables that in a way that would meaningfully hurt our students, and if it did, we would have increasing numbers of reported sexual harassment cases in locker rooms over the last 10 years.”
Whitney said her issue is consent, and she believes women have a right to consent and she doesn’t think a woman needs to share their life experience and divulge something traumatic.
Whitney said the outspoken crowd didn’t represent the entirety of the district and that a lot of people are worried about “social sanctioning and getting called a bigot and many other things when they just want to voice concerns about their children and value systems.”
The board ultimately voted 3-2 to pass the motion, tabling the decision and keeping the policy in place.
MORE: To watch the Wednesday, March 19 Claremont School Board meeting, visit here.
