Residents defend sound and proven trans and gender-diverse student policies in North Providence

"The concern should be more about what type of adults are influencing our children rather than concerning oneself about a student's gender," said North Providence resident Clara Hardy.

North Providence resident Clara Hardy defends trans children.

Yet another community was visited by a group of people attacking the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE)’s Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Transitioning Student Policy on Wednesday. In the case of the North Providence School Committee, right-wing Catholic extremist Robert Chiaradio managed to secure himself a whopping 15 minutes, even getting himself named on the agenda, to wander through his litany of poorly sourced, mostly false, and bigoted claims. Oddly, extra time added little to Chiaradio’s central argument. It was just more bombast -with just as little content. It’s a shame, because, during the prior hour, the School Committee, students, teachers, parents, and elected officials from across North Providence were celebrating Superintendent Joseph Goho’s Superintendent of the Year award. Talk about a mood killer.

The real pleasure of such meetings is when people take to the lectern and make impassioned pleas to continue to protect trans and gender diverse children, pointing out that there have been no negative consequences since the adoption of the RIDE policy. The policy is a great success, and should be - it was and still is based on the best evidence medical, psychological, and educational experts have provided.

Here are those who spoke in favor of maintaining the policy:

Clara Hardy: I live here in North Providence and I also am a proud member of a Unitarian Universalist church. I'm wearing this T-shirt because our motto is “Standing on the Side of Love” and that's what I'm here to do today. I'm here to speak in support of the Rhode Island Department of Education's policy on transgender and gender non-conforming students. The man from Westerly has been given a platform on this agenda to state his opposition to these policies that protect trans youth from discrimination by people like him.

I am a proud aunt and cousin of two relatives who are transgender [including] my niece who graduated from high school last year in a school that supported, educated, and welcomed her as she slowly started her social transition in the 10th grade. She was lucky to have been in a school that was accepting, tolerant, and encouraging of her. She's also lucky to have parents who are accepting of who she truly is.

As a social worker who works with many marginalized people, I am well aware that my niece is lucky to be so supported at home and school. This is not the case for so many transgender students because when trans kids are forced to suppress their gender expression, this leads to many more suicides and psychological problems. There is a reason why courts and at least one state, California, don't require parents to be notified if their child is gender variant because if the child themselves aren't talking to their parents about their gender identity, then there's a good reason and it's often due to the threat of domestic violence. Many children don't live in healthy happy homes with accepting parents who provide unconditional love.

When it comes to athletics, trans girls don't have an advantage in sports as they are not boys. That is like saying that because I'm taller than most of my classmates were in high school, I should be banned from playing basketball - which I played for all four years of high school and we almost won the state championship. Should I be banned from playing basketball due to a high advantage over shorter girls[?] There are all sorts of variations among kids on many levels. Being transgender is not a given advantage.

Lastly, transgender girls are not men invading girls' bathrooms. If anything, transgender girls are probably much shyer than most cisgender girls. There is a far greater problem with cis men abusing girls and boys in school than worrying about what any transgender person is doing. Proof of this is the arrest last week of Joseph Gannon, a teacher at Nathaniel Green Middle School who was arrested for sexually assaulting a middle schooler for years.

The concern should be more about what type of adults are influencing our children rather than concerning oneself about a student's gender. School is a place to keep all students safe - free from harassment, discrimination, and hate. Lastly, I will read a poem that was originally written after the Holocaust by Martin Niemöller. It's been adapted and I think it's very appropriate.

“First they came for the Hispanics and Latinos and I did not speak out because I was not Hispanic or Latino.

“Then they came for the Muslims and the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not Muslim or Jew.

“Then they came for all the immigrants and their children and I did not speak out because I was not an immigrant.

“Then they came for all people of color and I did not speak out because I was not a person of color.

“Then they attacked the women and I did not speak out because I was not a woman.

“Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Please speak for children, all children. Every child needs your support.

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Jojo Clark: I'm here tonight to voice my support and encourage this board to follow RIDE's guidelines for transgender and gender-diverse students in your school system. At heart, this policy simply extends all students' protections and safety. It mirrors our society's endeavor to fight discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry. I can think of no better place to start. I am 59 years of age. I conduct my life according to my experience, heart, and reasoning. It is by those tenants that I choose to stand before you and testify. I am trans. I am not evil nor do I belong to a cult. My transition has resulted in a much richer life mentally, creatively, and socially.

Some here would care for you to start a witch hunt where no witches are to be found. Though I do not know them enough to speak of them as void of heart, I can hear the misdirected fear, condemnation, and persecution aimed at the innocent which this board is charged with the protection and safety of. For what reason are they being targeted? For their right of self-expression. Your due diligence is civically important here.

I was raised in the post-segregated South and know quite well how bigotry is preserved. Dehumanization, exaggerations, and ignorance - reinforced by separation so that experience may never unseat that narrative. This fire is being fanned for the preservation of customs, not for the care of students today and for those to come. The smoke of conspiracies and interpreted statistics you will likely hear tonight are too vast for me to address one by one. They can only be cleared by reasoning and vetted research which the state's diligence has consciously done with the RIDE Guidelines and additionally adhering to Title IX of the United States Education Amendment.

In 2021, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, leaving the Fourth Circuit's ruling in favor of transgender rights intact. Nothing has changed since that. It is without question that this is currently our law. No good path forward in the history of time has ever been resolved by discrimination and isolation. I am hopeful that you will choose to acknowledge the rights, protection, and existence of all students; that you will support expression and teach the existing diversity of our world uncensored; [and] that you allow teachers their trained profession without being forced to [become] adjunct police for parents. By following RIDE's guidelines for trans and gender-diverse students. You'll lay the groundwork for healthier students and how they see themselves and treat their peers. Remain within the law of this land and perhaps encourage a more empathetic and understanding society for our future. It's your clarity and mission with heart, not fear, that I am here to call upon.

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Chris Grassi: I live here in North Providence. I've been a North Providence resident for six years now. I didn't prepare any notes. I just knew, when I saw this on the agenda, that I wanted to speak tonight. I'm here to speak for everyone who can't. The idea that transgender people are a threat to any of us is just wrong. I walked into the school tonight and though I'm not the most observant person, I saw that this is a welcoming place. There were signs above the door saying, "This is North Providence. We want you to be here. We want you to participate and feel like you're a student."

That's what you're doing and that's what you need to continue to do for all students, not just the ones that are like everyone else. It's the students who need that who need to hear it. You know that. You're educators. You're doing this already and you're sticking to what RIDE is saying. All I have is anecdotes and my experience, but that's what you need to be doing and you're doing it here.

We were talking tonight about people who are threats. In my experience growing up, my threat was always from people of my gender. That happened. That happens. It's not people of other genders, it's not transgender people, it's children being children and you've got to try to avoid it, but you've got to continue to teach to that, to show it, to have it happen, to make them better students, to make them better people, and I see you doing that and I appreciate that.

My granddaughter is a first grader at McGuire Elementary School and what I see her going through already, she just won the Little Cougar award. I don't have that perfect, but she is a member of the pack already and she's very happy with that, so thank you. That's what we need to build here. That's what we need to continue to build upon.

I learned recently that a member of my extended family is about to transition. They're 16 years old. They live in North Carolina in the suburbs and I'm worried about them. It's not going to be an easy thing for them to do. They've figured out what they need to do and they're 16, but they're still in school and they're going to need support and the ability to find and continue to grow, and I want that. I want that in North Providence. I fear that they won't have it in North Carolina.

A friend of my wife has a trans daughter and they just switched schools in Indiana. They tried to make a fresh start and already, in September, in their first month, a teacher had turned that student in and outed them in front of the entire school. It's just horrific to hear that happening and I don't want that in North Providence. I don't think we're doing that in North Providence and we shouldn't do that in North Providence, so please continue doing what you're doing. Make this town the good place that it is and congratulations.

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Jonathan Carney: The anti-trans activists in the opposition don't understand where Title IX comes from and are attacking school committees across the state for merely following federal guidance. The United States Department of Education and the Supreme Court in the 2020 decision Bostock v. Clayton County have already decided that discrimination against gender identity and trans people falls under the protections covered by Title IX. There have also been other federal court decisions, as Jojo mentioned, Grimm versus Gloucester City that also backed this up.

The anti-trans activists also say that there is no evidence to support the existence of trans people at all, no facts, only feelings - but they are dead wrong and all of their accusations are confessions. That's why the majority of psychiatric research and medical research supports the conclusion that trying to force people who say they're trans to just “deal with it” and live the identity they were born into doesn't work, and leads to outcomes such as higher rates of depression and suicide. Look up the studies. The American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Medical Association, and all the major American medical and psychiatric associations have come to the same conclusion.

Despite these people “knowing better,” things like social transition for younger ages improve their outcomes. You can all go and Google Scholar right now and look up studies and get more detailed information about what approaches produce which outcomes, and what approaches are appropriate for what ages to get a more nuanced understanding.

Of course, conveniently, any medical literature that disagrees with these people's views must just be the result of people with agendas. Showing these anti-trans activist studies will never convince them. Their response is typically to flounder and engage in name calling. [Robert Chiaradio] began his speech by claiming the other side is guilty of this. However, again, their accusations are confessions. They went to another school committee in another part of the state and called everyone there incompetent, maybe because the school committee was less receptive to them or something.

However, whenever you see these people, remember that they are paper tigers. One of the Moms for Liberty members, at another school committee meeting, began by saying, “Your trans child's rights to safety and comfort do not trump my child's right to safety and comfort.” While masquerading as a statement expressing that all children are equal, the way this is worded lays bare their true intentions and thought process: They don't care about the struggles or suffering faced by children who aren't their own and they don't care about people they don't understand who have issues that they do not understand. These people have called other school committee members incompetent liars and boldly claim that they don't have the best interests of students at heart. They have deluded themselves into believing that these people joined the school committee for the sole purpose of pushing their agenda on this issue that they have chosen to obsess over even though it does not directly affect them.

Ironically, it is the anti-trans activists who often do exactly this. One joined the Bristol-Warren School Committee precisely because she was furious that there was a non-explicit book in her kid's school called Were I Not a Girl telling the story of a real-life British trans man from centuries ago who joined the British military. She shares with the Mom'ss for Liberty activists’ tendency to accuse the opposition of unfairly conspiring against her.

At a previous meeting another activist from Mom's for Liberty, in their ignorance, attempted to equate trans people to gay people stating that “my gay friend didn’t need to change their identity to be who they were, so why do trans people?” These are people with a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue at hand, but who attempt to speak confidently on it.

I find this analogy interesting, however, because back in the age before gay acceptance, back in the seventies, these same people would've been here engaging in the same tactics, talking points, and name-calling that people like Anita Bryant did back in the 1970s.

I find the new talking point of “The lawsuits will come, but it’s ok, please get sued by RIDE, it doesn’t matter” interesting. This doesn't seem to be in the best interest of the school committee. I don't know why they would go for that. I don't know why they would want to get sued or get the community sued.

Another thing that was said earlier is that being trans is just a boy saying he's a girl. It's more than that. It's based on conversations with psychiatric professionals and parents. It's not just someone saying they are and then that's what it is. There's a process to see what's best for someone and what's going to help them and what's not. It's not quite that simple, so there seems to be a misunderstanding on that.

There was also a false claim that suicide rates for trans people who transition increased afterward. It's wrong. None of the medical associations have found this. They found the opposite. This claim is likely based on the same statistically incompetent thing most people who make this claim do, by, ironically (as he accused other people of cherry picking stats, and all his accusations are confessions), comparing the rate for trans people after they transitioned to that of the general population instead of comparing the suicide rates of trans people pretransition to the rate post transition, to make the factually incorrect argument that transition does not lower suicide rates.

This is why we don’t leave statistical analysis or medical research to random activists with embarrassing levels of confirmation bias.

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Wendy Becker: I am an Associate Professor of Social Work at Rhode Island College where I teach clinical practice and social policy, including a class on sexual orientation and gender identity. I was also a middle school social worker for many years, and the Executive Director of Youth Pride, a statewide org for LGBTQ youth. I am here to urge you to follow RIDE guidance and adhere to state and federal law.

There is a national effort to dehumanize and target LGBTQ people - evil and demonic, as we’ve already been called tonight. Extremists are engaged in targeting school committees with message-tested “parental rights” and “child protection” talking points, with rhetoric rooted in misinformation.

They are not protecting children as children are not in danger – there have been NO incidents in our schools in the 7+ years since the RIDE guidance regarding trans students [was introduced]. Not one problem in the bathrooms, classrooms, field trips, or locker rooms. And they are not [affecting] parental rights; parents have always had the right to engage with teachers and administrators and have their views heard. These anti-trans activists are simply trying to replace policy created by experts and educators with their views – views on gender that are opposed by all respected medical and mental health organizations - including the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The American College of Pediatricians – mentioned by previous speakers as supporting their cause – is a fringe group started by anti-LGBTQ medical professionals and has been designated nationally as a hate group.

Those of us who care about the education of our children must not accommodate extremists who peddle fear, have no subject expertise, and seek a discriminatory solution in search of a problem. Let me be clear: catering to transphobia and seeking to institutionalize discrimination against trans students is not only morally wrong and illegal, but it is also harmful to students’ well-being. If the policies demanded by the first speaker were instituted, policies designed to deny their reality and out them before they are ready, kids will die.

Transgender youth face enormous challenges. Studies show that transgender students are disproportionately affected by bullying, harassment, and discrimination in schools. Over 80% of LGBTQ students report feeling unsafe at school. This takes a devastating toll, contributing to higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, truancy, and suicidal ideation.

It is important to understand that these transgender youth experience difficulties - not because of their gender identity/expression - but because of transphobia. This is not about who they are or what they do; it’s about who we are and what we do.

We must continue to create safe and inclusive environments for all students and treat trans and gender-diverse students with respect and dignity. We must continue to comply with the law and uphold the core values of education: equity, respect, and compassion.

When transgender students are supported and allowed to live authentically, their mental health, attendance, and academic performance all improve. And this occurs without any negative consequences for other students because of an inclusive, safe environment. It is what’s best for all. RIDE guidelines were enacted based on federal and state law, and research into evidence-based practice – exactly how policy should be created. Do not allow personal prejudices to redefine how we create public policy.

Anti-trans speakers included Westerly resident Robert Chiaradio, Johnston resident and Moms for Liberty member Lori Russo, and Woonsocket resident Melissa Bubble, whose comments at other school committees I have transcribed. Those interested can follow one of the links below, but I would suggest skipping their comments and focusing on the comments of the residents of the towns and cities they are visiting:

• On Thursday, anti-trans bigotry went to Pawtucket to die

• Newporters reject hate and book banning at School Committee meeting

• East Providence turns out against anti-trans bigotry

• Lincoln folks push back against anti-trans bigotry at school committee meeting

• Warwick defends their children from anti-trans bigots

• West Warwick joins a long list of communities rejecting anti-trans hate