East Providence turns out against anti-trans bigotry
"To the trans and gender-expansive youth who might hear and see this: Please know that we are here for you. ... You deserve to feel safe in your schools and communities..."
Right-wing anti-trans activists descended on the East Providence School Committee on Thursday in an attempt to convince committee members to reverse a seven-year-old state-mandated Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) policy that protects the rights of transgender, gender diverse, and transitioning students. As has become usual, the subject of transgender students was not on the agenda; the subject was brought up by anti-trans rights activist Robert Chiaradio, a Westerly resident allied with the Washington County, Rhode Island branch of Moms for Liberty, a far-right extremist group.
It’s not a contest, but if it were, East Providence is easily in the lead as a record number of residents turned out to oppose Chiaradio and his Moms for Liberty allies. [No shade on other communities who have also made spectacular efforts.]
It is encouraging to see the efforts of anti-trans bigots spectacularly backfiring. Instead of dividing communities or opening up policies that protect students to edits and rollbacks, all but a minority of communities in Rhode Island have resisted these efforts. Even in those communities with school committees that might want to act, there is a reticence - perhaps born of an understanding that not only is protecting our students necessary and popular, but it is a moral and deeply human imperative.
Below is the testimony of the community, edited for clarity:
Chelsea: I am a proud East Providence High School graduate, and I'm a resident of the town. I am here to speak today as a member of the community, two of them actually a member of the East Providence community and the LGBTQIA+ community. Our students are what make our schools great, all of them, including our gender-expansive students. Our students contribute great things to our school when they feel safe, accepted, and like their existence matters.
The hateful and hurtful things that have been heard at different events, politics, and policies challenge us as adults to protect our students and advocate for their safety.
I want to share a couple of quick facts presented by the Trevor Project's 2024 US National Survey on the mental health of LGBTQI+ young people. 39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including 46% of transgender and non-binary people. More than half of transgender and non-binary people found their school to be gender-affirming, and those who did reported lower rates of suicide.
LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who reported living in unaccepting communities. Let's let that sink in: Kids who feel welcome and accepted for who they are feel safer in school, want to come to school, and be here every day. Access to safe, affirming, and loving spaces helps our young gender-expansive children become safe, affirming, and loving gender expansive adults. These spaces need to include schools.
Schools are where students interact with teachers, collaborate with classmates, use the bathroom without fear, and where they're addressed by their correct name and pronouns. Our students are told attendance matters, but if these safe and affirming spaces were to be removed, our students would be at a higher risk for suicide and other harmful behaviors. Safety is something that we are working to improve, I know, especially in our community. Every day, we need to keep our students physically, emotionally, and mentally safe by having trans and non-binary accepting policies and protections at our school, as we currently do.
For some of our students, we are their safe place - where they can be who they are. Our students form their ideas, opinions, and identities at school and home. Having space and acceptance in school allows students to become who they are with the love and support behind them. The students I know matter, who they are matters, and knowing they are safe, welcome, and accepted in my classroom matters.
Our district's protective policies for trans and non-binary students matter. My existence as a queer teacher in my classroom and community matters to me and my students. Townie Pride means including everybody. That also means our LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff.
Stephanie Muse: I'm a teacher. I'm a mom of two and a Ward Two resident... I'm here to speak up in response to recent efforts to undermine the school policy to protect all students who attend public schools and divide our community. What it amounts to is a few loud members from outside of our community postulating that a student's identity, protected under the law, somehow poses a threat to the well-being of others. Children who exist outside of society's gender binaries are a gift. We are so lucky to live in a community where families trust us with children who push the boundaries that so many have suffered inside of - pushing us to think, as the adults in charge, instead of [doing] what is standard [and] what is right, instead of what is usual [or] what is possible.
Children who question their gender assigned at birth exist. They exist. They are our neighbors, our students, and an important part of our Townie Community, and just like all students, they deserve to learn in a safe and supportive setting free from discrimination.
Our school committees exist to put into place policies that protect our students and guide our teachers. When we provide strong policies and guidance, we make our school community a better, safer place for all. I strongly support policies that ensure transgender student protection at school and hope we'll work as a community to ensure that our district policies are regularly revisited, strengthened, and reflected in all of our school handbooks. I appreciate all you do to make East Providence a place that I'm happy to raise my children in and call home, and I appreciate your time tonight.
Kim Lee: I'm a resident of Ward Four. I'm a Rhode Island teacher and a parent of three children in the East Providence School District. I'm here tonight to show support for the rights of every child. All children deserve to feel safe at school. All children deserve to be seen and nurtured as their authentic selves at school. The transgender and gender-nonconforming student policy that East Providence Schools has adopted from RIDE protects some of our most vulnerable populations.
As many of you probably already know, the data is clear that this population needs our support. Transgender students are four to five times more likely than cisgender students to seriously consider suicide. They are more than three times more likely to get bullied at school. It is not the uncomfortable non-trans kids that need protecting. What we need to do is uphold this policy and make sure it is actually being carried out in all of our East Providence schools.
Last week, I reached out to my children's school's deans to try to get more information about the professional development that staff have received in support of transgender and gender non-conforming students. I also asked for more information about the health curriculum. Both of these items are listed in the last section of the policy under education and training. The deans forwarded my questions to the assistant superintendent. This was her response: "All administrators and deans have been trained on the basic tenants of the school committee adopted transgender policy. The health curriculum philosophy is online."
While I appreciated both the deans' and the assistant superintendent's prompt replies, I feel we can do better than this. Just having a policy or a philosophy doesn't do the job. Administrators and deans aren't the ones with my children all day long. The teachers, the recess and lunch aids, and the support staff are the ones in the trenches with our kids, and they deserve professional training as to how to best support all students. I wonder if any of our staff members have received any training in the many years since this policy was adopted. Do they know what to do when another child tells my daughter that she can't be a girl because she was born a boy? Do they know that there are kids in their classes or on the playground that might not fall into the boy or girl categories? Are teachers supported in reading books to their classes with trans and non-binary characters?
As a mom of one trans child and two gender non-conforming children in the East Providence schools, I'm not sure that my children feel seen and understood. Every child deserves at least that. Teachers and staff members deserve more training as well. My children have had some lovely, caring educators here in East Providence. However, when I enrolled my kids and asked for a gender support plan for my daughter, the principal didn't know what it was. She said, "We have a policy," and I'm thankful that we do have a policy in East Providence, but it's not enough to just have a policy. Educators, leaders, and all staff members need to be able to navigate situations that will arise with some level of expertise, and they can't do that without professional development.
Please, I urge you to follow through with the policy that you have adopted with integrity. Don't just treat it as a box to get checked off and move on to the next thing. North Providence Schools, Providence Schools, and some Rhode Island charter schools have done a lot of good work in training their staff with the support of groups like Youth Pride in Providence and through committees like Providence's Equity and Belonging - a committee that we could benefit from here. I would be more than happy to partner in getting that going If I can. Our children deserve more than the bare minimum. Let's set them up for continued success in a world that they will grow up to lead, with acceptance and inclusion of all people.
Libby Merrill: I know most of you. I'm a resident of East Providence. I'm a parent of an East Providence Elementary School student, and I'm also a career educator. I'm here tonight to share public comment in support of East Providence's continued adherence to RIDE's guidance for transgender and gender nonconforming students, as well as the continued use and improvement of East Providence's transgender and gender nonconforming policy.
These guidelines and policies not only protect transgender students, they protect all students. Inclusion benefits all of us, even those of us with privileged identities. As far as I know, my child identifies as the gender most often associated with her sex assigned at birth. She will also benefit from inclusive policies and the inclusion and celebration of transgender students.
The RIDE policy states that students have the right to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, and any student who wants increased privacy may request it. The policy seeks to eliminate the stigma associated with transgender students choosing a bathroom that doesn't match their appearance, but at the same time, it protects cisgender students who have other reasons to seek privacy. Many students in middle school and high school want and need private accommodations to change or use the bathroom, and this policy allows for it.
My kid will not be harmed by playing sports with transfeminine athletes. Her potential athletic achievement will be in no way diminished by playing with a diverse range of athletes. The opposite is true. She could be harmed if trans athletes are barred from competing in girls’ sports. We saw the terrible harassment that happened to the female Algerian boxer during the Olympics when she was falsely accused of being transgender. I would not wish my child or any female athlete or transfeminine athlete to have to prove their sex in order to play a sport. By protecting trans athletes, we're protecting all female athletes.
My child will not be harmed by learning not to assume people's genders based on their appearance. Almost every parent has had the experience of their little child, age two or three, misgendering someone in public loudly. It's embarrassing. We may have reacted with embarrassment and not known what to do. How wonderful is it that our schools have guidance to reinforce what I teach at home, that we shouldn't assume someone's gender based on what they look like, and that it's okay to ask someone's gender?
The RIDE guidance takes a common sense approach to parental communication, knowing that parental oversight naturally diminishes as children age. It states that elementary-level parents should be notified if their students start socially transitioning at school, but at the secondary level, it recommends approaching it on a case by case basis, taking into account any risks from parental notification that would pose a risk to the youth's safety. This is a logical and measured approach.
The guidance from RIDE is a good starting point for the inclusion of transgender students and all students. It is in line with the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is the largest and most reputable association of professional pediatricians in the United States.
Let's build on this strong foundation. Our teachers and school administrators need appropriate support and training to implement the policy. The East Providence policy we have will need regular updating as we learn more and best practice evolves. It can't be static. Thank you to the folks on this current committee for the support you've given to all students in East Providence. This is an election year, and I have to confess I have less confidence in some of the people who may be on this committee come January. Please use the rest of your time on this committee to reaffirm the East Providence Transgender, Transitioning, and Gender Nonconforming Policy and to provide for better professional development for school staff.
I have made the case that inclusion benefits everyone. I'll wrap up by saying that those who argue against inclusion do so as a means of creating fear in the majority by scapegoating vulnerable people. They pose a "no but" world where problems are caused by historically stigmatized minority groups, and they do it to distract us from uniting for the common good. We will not be susceptible to this fearmongering and division. We know that we are all stronger together when everyone is included.
Quentin Foster: I'm speaking to you today both as a concerned Rhode Islander and as a representative of the East Bay Community Action Program. EBCAP is a health and human services agency serving ten communities in the East Bay area, including East Providence, by providing vital medical and mental healthcare as well as a variety of social services such as Head Start food pantries, before and after school programs, and the East Providence Health Equity Zone, just to name a few. I am the director of transgender healthcare, and as such, I lead the agency's efforts to support the LGBTQIA+ community that we serve.
I do a lot of programming. Some of it is engagement with the community, some of it is professional development for public schools, and some of it is just making sure that the folks in our area get the services that they need.
As a transgender person and a professional working in healthcare, I want to thank you for your district's strong support of LGBTQIA+ students. East Providence's current policy not only aligns with RIDE's best practice policy and the Rhode Island State Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender identity, but it also aligns with expectations for fair treatment included in Title IX, the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1969, and federal guidance from the United States Departments of Justice and Education.
Here in Rhode Island, we are lucky to have robust protections for LGBTQ+ people, including youth. However, over the last four years, we've seen exponential increases in proposed changes to those protections both in school committees and at the State House.
The 2022 Rhode Island Student Survey, which includes a lot but not all of our 6th through 12th graders in Rhode Island public schools, showed that at least 4% of the middle and high school students in our state identify as transgender. That's more than 740 young people, and many Rhode Island youth were not allowed to respond to that survey. We also know that in 2024, 90% of LGBTQIA+ young people report that their well-being has been negatively impacted by the recent political discussions and debates over their basic human rights.
Transgender and gender-expansive children are suffering. Nearly half of trans and non-binary people. 46% considered suicide last year, according to the 2024 Trevor Project's LGBTQIA+ Youth Mental Health Survey. Additionally, we know over the last five years, the reported number of anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crimes on K-12 campuses has more than doubled.
What is often left out of these policy conversations is the fact that gender-expansive children are frequently isolated, mistreated, and targeted both by youth and adults. They need and deserve our protection, equity, and privacy. I'm sure that we can all agree that we should never again hear another story like that of Brianna Ghey, Nex Benedict, or Jayden Tkaczyk, and certainly not here in EP. We are already ahead of the curve. Let's stay on the right side of history. EBCAP urges you not to make changes to your policies at this time, to continue protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ youth, and to partner to support the youth of East Providence.
Sandra G: I'm a lifelong resident of Ward Four and EPHS Class of 1995. As a former EP student and parent of a former EP student - my son is an adult now - this evening, I want to speak about an issue close to my heart: Supporting transgender students in our schools and in our community.
As an EP resident and alum, I am so proud of our community. This past June, I participated in the EP Pride Parade, and I met some truly incredible students and parents. They were such joy, kindness, smiles, and rainbows. I'm so proud that we don't cater to bigots in this city, and we stand up and protect the rights of our neighbors to be whomever they choose to be. We celebrate diversity in East Providence. We celebrate it because it makes us stronger, kinder, and more compassionate and because it's important to always do better, to learn, grow, evolve, and respect everyone's right to the pursuit of happiness.
Here's a news flash for those younger than me: trans folk have been around since the dawn of time, even back in the eighties and nineties when I was in school in Riverside and East Providence - or the late 1900s, they say. It's just safer today for them to be themselves than it used to be, and we are so thankful for that.
As a librarian, I've seen firsthand the joy that books and stories bring to young minds, but I've also seen how crucial it is that children see themselves represented in stories and that they feel accepted. Transgender students, like all students, come to school with a desire to learn, grow, and be safe in their authentic selves. It's our responsibility, as the grownups in the room, to create an environment where they feel safe, respected, and valued.
This means more than just tolerance. It means active support and inclusivity. We must ensure that our libraries, classrooms, and schools are welcoming spaces for every student. This includes having diverse books that reflect various experiences and identities and making sure that students see themselves in the stories that we share. Representation matters. It helps children understand and appreciate differences, and it fosters a sense of belonging.
Furthermore, let's remember that our actions speak loudly. By using correct names and pronouns, addressing bullying, and supporting inclusive policies, we show that every student deserves respect and dignity. This commitment helps build a community where everyone can thrive, and I think we can agree that that's what we all want In East Providence.
To my LGBTQ neighbors and friends, know that you are not only supported here in East Providence. You are wanted, appreciated, and valued.
In conclusion, supporting transgender students is about more than just providing resources. It's about creating a culture of acceptance and understanding. Together, we can ensure that our schools remain a place where every child feels seen, heard, and valued.
Gregory Greco: I am a lifelong resident of Ward Four, a proud parent of a fourth-grade student at Myron J Francis School, and a special education teacher for the last 28 years. I can tell you that in all my time as a special education teacher, all 28 years, I've not once seen a student be hurt by feeling seen, heard, and included. I've seen plenty of students who have not been heard, whose education has been destroyed by not being seen and not being included.
That is why teacher organizations across the country support our gender-expansive students - because we know that supporting and uplifting those students is how they learn best. I'm going to repeat that. We support our gender-expansive students because supporting them and including them, seeing them, and hearing them is how they learn best - and not just them. When we create a supportive environment, it makes all students learn better, and that is what we are here to do as teachers: We're here to support our students to learn.
You'll hear other people tonight who want to insist that educators have a secret agenda other than having our students learn, people who have not spent their careers in the education field and who haven't spent their lives understanding what it takes to create effective learning environments. They will use fear and discomfort as tools to create distrust and division in our schools and our communities.
As a teacher and lifelong resident of this city, I reject that East Providence is a place where we let hate, fear, distrust, and division grow. I spent my life teaching the values of kindness and inclusivity to my students and my son. We are not going to be silent while others try to deprive the students in our community of an affirming community where they feel included and safe and that every child in the city deserves.
Lauren: I'm a proud resident of East Providence and the mother of two children, including a five-year-old kindergartner. I'm here tonight because I'm a strong advocate for public education and believe that every child has the fundamental right to learn, be supported, and be loved. At its core, love means inclusion, and that's a value. Even my five-year-old understands. It's a simple yet profound lesson to be kind to everyone no matter how they look, speak, where they come from, or how much they have.
I'm here because I believe in East Providence and the strength of our community. I've stood alongside Mayor Bob DaSilva, members of the East Providence Police Department, and many others during last year's transgender day of visibility, where we honored the lives of trans people lost to violence, especially those who felt isolated and unsupported by their communities.
In the face of harmful rhetoric, I want to tell you that East Providence is different. It's a place where, no matter where you come from, your background, your appearance, or your experience, we come together to live in peace and mutual respect. In East Providence, we trust that our teachers know how to teach, our doctors know how to care, and we, as parents, know how to raise our children to embrace acceptance and compassion for others.
If you're looking for the best policies to guide our schools, just look at what we already have in our community and how Weaver Library provides resources for ESL students. Look at the connections fostered through our senior center and the way we nurture growth in small businesses. Now, think about how we can extend that same support to our students. Supporting our students means caring for and respecting them.
When outsiders come in and suggest we change our community without understanding its heart, we stand firm. We know our students. We're the ones who help them onto the bus, pack their lunches, wipe their tears when they're hurt, and cheer them on at their T-ball games. Some of these students are LGBTQ+, and just like every other child in East Providence, they deserve the same kindness, safety, and support that our community offers to all. Shouldn't we ensure that East Providence remains a place where every child feels safe, loved, and embraced?
Brenda: I'm a resident of Ward Four. I'm a mother of three and grandmother of four. I feel every student deserves the right to express their true identity and be respected for who they are. Supporting the rights of transgender students in schools is fundamental to ensuring an inclusive and equitable educational environment. It's essential that schools provide a safe and affirming space so all students, regardless of their gender identity, can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Recognizing and supporting the rights of trans students not only upholds their dignity but also forces a culture of respect and acceptance that benefits the entire school community. Embracing and celebrating diversity helps build a more compassionate and understanding world for everyone.
Erica: I'm an East Providence resident. I am a student on my way to becoming a licensed mental health counselor, and I'm a member of the queer community. As a graduate student in the mental health field, I am greatly concerned with the mental health of people of all ages, including and especially our youth. As a queer person, when I see people putting so much of their time and effort into challenging my rights to safety in an educational setting as a young queer person, I need to know that there are adults out here who care about me and who are willing to use their voice to protect me in my personhood, which is why I'm here today to share some data.
According to data shared by the Movement Advancement Project as it stands, 75% of trans students have felt unsafe at school because of their gender expression, and 70% of trans students actually have avoided bathrooms because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable, which is one of the many reasons why I support these RIDE and Title IX guidelines.
As adults, it is our job to protect the safety of all students of all genders. Additionally, research done by Kristina Olson of the University of Washington shows that trans youth experience reduced levels of anxiety and depression when accepted and affirmed at home, school, and in their communities.
To the school committee: Thank you so much for your time. It's my first time at a meeting, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I hope that you'll value the voices of the EP residents that you've heard tonight and to the trans and gender-expansive youth who might hear and see this: Please know that we are here for you. We know how valuable and how beautiful you are, and you deserve to feel safe in your schools and community.
The testimony of Robert Chiaradio has been moved to this footnote.1
The testimony of Susan Branch has been moved to this footnote.2
The Testimonoy of Amy Rodriguez has been moved to this footnote.3
John Mertus: I've been a resident of Rumford since 1986The . We've raised two children here, and for 37 years, I've worked at Brown University, mostly as a professor of research in the cognitive science, psychology, and linguistics departments, although my expertise is really in mathematics. There's an old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.
It is fair to say, with the internet and AI, that we are experiencing the most rapid and remarkable technological and social changes in history. We are truly living in interesting times, but with these changes, people fear the values they were raised with are disappearing. They become insecure. Some react with anger, but most want to go back to the imaginary past where everything was good. The interesting thing about this is that we do not remember the past correctly. Over time, it becomes rosier and rosier. It has to do with the way that memories and emotions are encoded in our brains.
It also has to do with differences in the way our brain processes gains and losses, but I don't want to go into that here, it's far too technical. What I want to say is that we can't go back. The genie can never be put back in the bottle. We must deal with the future, not the past. In this, we have to use science and make our decisions according to science, and science tells us a couple of things about gender.
First, gender is the result of physical development in the brain. This development is governed mostly by the estrogen and testosterone absorption rates in utero. This has been proven in mice. This is why gender identification is not a moral failure or teaching failure. It's part of the essence of who we are. People are no more responsible for their gender identity than I am for my baldness.
Second, as people have talked about, hundreds of scientific studies show that acceptance and support of natural gender identity decreases depression and suicide in children. We hear it all the time. It makes our children into more well-adjusted adults, and this is a major goal of education - preparing our children for the adult world.
So, as far as all these statistics go, I'm a mathematician. I can bend statistics any way you want. I can prove anything you want by properly choosing the [data] sets.
When we look at this when we create policy, we need to go to the people who know about this, the people who have studied it, and we also need discourse about it from people who do not agree with us or at least with my position. We need science to look at this from a scientific viewpoint.
JoJo Clark: My pronouns are they them. First off, I wish to thank the board for allowing me to voice my support for RIDE's policy in support of transgender and gender-diverse students. At its heart, it simply extends the protection and safety of all students. It mirrors our society's endeavor to fight discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry. What better place to start than at the school level, without it, what greater hardships will we have in the fight for our society and future society?
A little bit about me. I'm older. I'm 59. I didn't grow up in the world of today. There was no option for me then, there is today. At 55, during Covid, I decided to live my life, and it's been the best life so far. So many things have passed me by. I had such great depression and anxiety for so long. It limited me, and I know it now because now I'm living a much better life. I'm here to voice my support for RIDE as so many other people, allies of the RIDE policy. Please keep the policy supportive for a future that is not of bigotry but of love and care.
Committee Chair Jenni Furtado: Before we move forward to the next item, do any committee members up here want to say full words?
Committee Member Jessica Beauchaine: We don't usually say words at public comment [but] this policy was not going to be touched. I don't know why this is up here today. I was on the committee when this policy was written. This wasn't being touched tonight. It wasn't on the agenda. As far as I'm concerned, it's not going to be touched. I'm only here for a couple more months until the election, who knows? But as far as I'm concerned, this policy is in stone. A lot of it is state law, so it can't be touched.
My feelings about this: these policies are complex, and I have the feelings that everyone here tonight spoke about. I have a daughter, and she does go to this high school, and the weird part is she plays a boy sport.
I understand where all of you who spoke tonight are coming from, but my job up here is to protect students. All students, no matter what. I'm obligated to ensure policies align with federal law.
I understand that transgender policies can be complex. I respect that people may have different views. However, for me, it comes down to basic human rights and dignity. Everyone, including transgender people, deserves the same respect and protections that we all do. That's here in the school as well. Policies like these aren't about giving special treatment but rather ensuring that no one is discriminated against for being who they are. That's my view, and I thank you for allowing me to say that today.
Jenni Furtado: This is a small comment because I feel like my colleague perfectly summarized everything. I think transgender rights are human rights, and my position has never changed. I'll be supportive of our diverse community and continue to do so in the future. As
Committee Member Max Brandle: I'll just say, very well said, and I'm in total agreement.
Committee Member Anthony Ferreira: There was nothing to disrespect. I was born and raised in the city. We have almost 5,300 students in the school district and 800 teachers. Our job is not policy. We have to protect these kids under anything. I don't sit here and follow these laws from RIDE or anybody. It's morals that I was born with and what I was raised with. Every student will be treated the same educationally and safety-wise as long as I sit up here.
Committee Member Ryan Queenan: I agree with the sentiment of the rest of this table, and I do appreciate being a part of the East Providence community.
Robert Chiaradio: I'm from Westerly, and I'm assuming that none of you at the tables there are mandated to share your bathroom, or you're changing area with someone of the opposite sex while at work, or sleep in the same room with someone of the opposite sex while on a work trip. If that is true, why is it okay to mandate that our children do? Why am I asking this?
Because there are six pillars of RIDE's untruthful and unlawful transgender guidance, which is not law, by the way, that you must change within your own policy. Biological boys use the same bathrooms and locker rooms as girls, room with girls on overnight field trips, compete with and against girls athletically, compel teachers to utilize pronouns, and keep secrets from parents regarding the social transitioning of their own kids while at school -maybe the most egregious of all.
Your transgender policy is gaslighting this district's parents - lying to them to make them think that you have the best interest of all kids at heart when this policy discriminates outright against 99% of this district's kids, especially our girls, by placing them in uncomfortable, unsafe, and unfair situations. Your job as a school committee is to protect all kids, not just kids who are confused with their sexual identity. All kids.
Angélica Infante-Green is lying to you. Don't be afraid of her. Your Title IX policy parrots the [Biden] Administration's illegal hijacking and rewrite and its attempt to erase women - and I will not allow that to happen. It has already been successfully challenged in court on numerous occasions and will continue to be. Title IX was enacted to prevent discrimination against women on the basis of sex, not men who identify as women. That is not why it was written.
It is based on a false premise. The rewrite is that a boy simply saying he's a girl makes it so, and it does not. No matter how much a boy wants to be a girl, think he's a girl, dressed like a girl, he will never be a girl, never. Same as girls who identify as boys. This is truth, which is why proponents of this policy have nothing fact-based or data-driven on which to base any intelligent argument and why you see the anger and name-calling toward me.
Our opponents are quick to dismiss the American College of Pediatricians, calling them a hate group, citing the Southern Poverty Law Center, a true hate group, as their source. Go to acpeds.org to see the Doctors Protecting Children declaration that they and over a dozen other medical and health professional organizations signed to protect our kids against so-called gender-affirming care. You'll note that the AMA, the AAP, WHO, and the NIH are absent from this.
This is big business for these people, big business. This is not anti LBGTQ. If you heard my friend last night at the Warwick School Committee meeting, a gay man, you'd have heard him say that the vast majority of the gay community does not want to be lumped in with this. [Note: This was not said by the self-identified gay man who spoke at Wednesday evening's Warwick School Committee meeting.]
It's not denying the existence of kids who are confused with their sexual identity. I don't care what anyone identifies as. What I do care about, however, is when that affirmation and fallout of that identification places our biological girls and women, and boys too, in unfair, uncomfortable, and unsafe positions, be it in a lavatory, a locker room, on the field of play, or in a classroom.
Policies such as this push a vulnerable population to organizations such as Planned Parenthood, where over 40,000 girls have begun their transition with an initial dose of testosterone, leading them to a lifetime of harm and pain. Suicide rates among this group increase post-treatment. Groups like the ones that follow me around lie about the suicide rate of this group. They lie about the imminent danger of harm in the home. They lie because they don't care about these kids, and they lie because they're agenda-driven ideologues. I support calling anyone whatever name they want to be called. However, I will never affirm a lie, which is calling a girl a boy and a boy a girl.
[At this point, the committee Chair told Chiaradio his five minutes of speaking time were up. He kept speaking, and the crowd began to clap and cheer him off stage.]
Robert Chiaradio: Finally, God bless the children of East Providence, the families of East Providence, and may he also bless the United States of America. Thank you very much, and thank you for being as courteous to me as I was to you.
Susan Branch: I want to start with - there's so many things with this whole situation. My biggest complaint about the Title IX thing is parental rights and parents not being involved in the equation of these kids, in particular, who want to transition, first off a document from Marian Grossman. She's a world known psychologist. She states that, and this is just recently, there's a 5000% increase in teenage girls wanting to go into transition. 5000%. That's a lot. I think a parent has a right to know about what's going on with their kid, and I think that should always be the first and foremost thing. Faculty and teachers and the school committee should constantly encourage that because I think most parents are going to be supportive of what's going on.
Most of these girls, according to Dr. Marian Grossman, will grow out of this stage, and most of them did not have any signs of preexisting when they were younger. They showed no indication that there was a problem with their identity, and in actuality, gender dysphoria is still very rare. There are lots of documents that go along with that, so I think the whole process needs to be slowed down... We need to slow down this process and make sure that these kids are really in need of puberty blockers and some of the other medications. [There] have been the surgeries that they're doing on these kids. It's a very big business, $500 billion business and growing - and some of these kids are some of the people that have transitioned.
There are a lot of people transitioning who wish they never did it. They're not really prepared to make that kind of a decision - and I'm not saying there are not people out there that have actual gender dysphoria - just saying that a lot of these kids, they don't have gender dysphoria and that's what the documentation is showing.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, on June 8th, 2024, recommended to stop all treatment immediately. On April 10th, 2024, the CASS report from England banned all puberty blockers under the age of 18, and they wound up closing one of the largest clinics in London that used to do transitions. Now, on August 15th, the FDA had one puberty blocker, not saying all puberty blockers, but they had one puberty blocker that increased depression, suicide, and seizures in use. Going forward, I think we have to be extremely careful when we are guiding these kids.
It's everybody's responsibility. It's the responsibility of parents, grandparents, teachers, staff members, principals, neighbors, friends, families, and everybody. It's everybody's responsibility to make sure these kids are making the right decision because it's permanent, and they can't go back and change it.
Amy Rodriguez: I'm the chapter chair of the Washington County Moms for Liberty. I'm also a mother of three, and I'd like to talk to you about Title IX [which] was written to protect biological women from being discriminated against. The passing of Title IX led to women being able to have their own sports teams, where fair play could be honored and women could excel in their sport. RIDE's polic seeks to discriminate against biological women, mandating men to be allowed in spaces that were previously safe from men for women. Men can now simply say they identify as women and can invade girls' spaces where and when they are most vulnerable.
Case in point, according to today's DailyMail.com article regarding a teenage boy. In a recent Loudoun County, Virginia case, a judge found the teenage boy, wearing a skirt, guilty last week of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old female classmate in the girl's bathroom at their school.
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com, his mother, who asked not to be identified for the sake of her underage son, defended his actions. She said that the 15-year-old girl should have been able to fight better in the bathroom against a male. She said his actions were that of a heterosexual, hormonal teen who had consensual sex with a girl twice before. He's a 15-year-old boy who wanted to have sex in the bathroom with somebody who was willing. She said her son was trying to find himself by wearing a skirt one day and pants the next for attention he desperately sought.
Confusing children with gender identity politics is dangerous and must be stopped. Many girls no longer feel safe playing their sport because men have invaded and are making their sport far more dangerous than it was or should be. Not to mention the obvious unfairness: men are stronger than women. This is a biological, scientific fact that has been accepted from the beginning of time. Any doctor who says otherwise, it's a quack.
I give you the scrimmage match between the US Women's National Team, for example, who played the FC Dallas U15s Boys Academy Team and fell five to two, according to the FC Dallas official website. I'll also read from a quote from Logan Lansing and Dr. James Lindsay [in the book The Queering of the American Child]:
“David Halperin, who defined the word queer for queer theory in his 1995 book Saint Foucault writes,
“‘Queer identity may not be grounded in any positive truth or in any stable reality. As the very word implies, queer does not name some natural kind or refer to some determinant object. It acquires its meaning from its oppositional relation to the normal. Queer is, by definition, whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, and the dominant.’ David Halperin also takes pains to point out that queer has virtually nothing to do with what he terms gay identities. Those, he insists, are rooted in homosexual object choice, a stable if not essential human reality with queer identities. By contrast, there is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. He continues. ‘It is an identity without essence. Queer identities that are affirmed in our children by gender-affirming care are revolutionary political identities that are, by definition, framed as whatever is at odds with the normal and legitimate.
“‘They are not based in any positive truth or stable reality. They are the result of putting children in a destabilizing crisis and then affirming them into a destructive politicized sense of self. They're made seemingly concrete in our children through a Moaist process of ideological remodeling into an oppositional defiant.’”
I'll end by saying there are two sexes, zero genders, and infinite personalities. Let children be children, and let them keep their innocence.