Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) in California held a board meeting on Thursday in the middle of an argument about a transgender athlete at Martin Luther King High School and students are being reprimanded for protesting the athlete's participation.
The board meeting will deal with the latest allegations in the case that school administrators wore “Save Girls' Sports” T-shirts. to the swastikas.
Protesters gathered outside the RUSD District Office, advocating for and against transgender inclusion.
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Video footage of the meeting provided by parents to California Family Outreach Director Sophia Lorey showed a crowd of people holding up a transgender pride flag and wearing matching colored shirts.
Lorey told Fox News Digital that there were a few people outside the venue wearing “Save Girls' Sports” T-shirts, but they were outnumbered by pro-transgender activists.
The California Family Council, along with the religious rights law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom, held a press conference outside the district office before a board meeting dealing with ongoing disputes.
Ryan Starks, the father of a girl at the school named Taylor who is involved in a case against the school, spoke at the press conference. The lawsuit alleges that Taylor lost his varsity spot to a transgender athlete and that his protest T-shirt against a competing athlete was compared to a swastika.
“It's heartbreaking to see what my daughter went through this season,” Starks said.
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“This is not fair. This is completely unfair. It hurts me as a father to see my daughter go through this and be taken away, come to me and just beg for me. I can't do anything, so it's sad.
The attorney representing Taylor in the case, Julianne Fleischer, previously told Fox News Digital that the statement from school administrators was “very dangerous.”
“When you have adults comparing the message of 'Save Girls' Sports' which promotes equality, justice, common sense – when you have adults comparing that message to the swastika, which represents the massacre of Jews Millions, of course, there are no adults. I don't know how you respond to that,” Fleischer said.
Hundreds of Martin Luther King High School students began wearing t-shirts every Wednesday. The school responded by enacting a dress code that resulted in many of those students being sent to detention. But that didn't stop them. The students wore the shirts every week.
The school recently stopped enforcing its shirtless policy.
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Sources told Fox News officials at nearby Arlington High, Riverside Polytechnical High School and Romona High School also saw students wearing them.
In a statement released earlier to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
Students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, Calif., are wearing “Save Girls' Sports” T-shirts to protest a transgender athlete on the cross country team. (Courtesy of Sophia Lorey)
“It is important to remember that RUSD is bound by California law, which requires that students be 'allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity. , regardless of whether it is listed in student records,'” the statement said.
“As these issues continue to play out in our courts and media, opposition and protest should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, DC and Sacramento.”
California has had laws in place to protect transgender athletes in women's sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 went into effectgiving California students in classrooms and schools the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with their gender identity, regardless of gender identity.” the gender listed on the student's records.”
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