Quilcene School Board Debates Banning Trans Kids From Sports Teams That Aligns With Their Gender

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Photo by Nhatt Nichols.  [/caption]

News by Nhatt Nichols

The Quilcene School Board spent nearly three hours on Wednesday, March 19, debating whether to break Washington State law and their own policies by requiring students to play on a sports team aligned with their birth gender.

Almost an hour of that time was taken up by public comment from the packed room, most of which were people urging the school board not to attempt to change their current policy.

One of the speakers was Erik Pickens, the school board president for the Sequim School District and the regional president for the Washington Education Association, which represents about 5,000 educators on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsula.

“What is being said here is not a reflection of what is actually happening in our school.”  

— Courtney Beck, Quilcene High School English Teacher

Pickens pointed out that banning transgender athletes from participating in sports not only violates state law but also Quilcene School Board policy 3211, which specifically talks about the school district being free of discrimination for all students, regardless of gender expression, gender identity or sex. Pickens urged the Quilcene School Board to drop the issue, saying, “If you respect how government should operate, then you need to at least look at your own policy first and take a look at that before this resolution is even considered.”

Other speakers provided personal insights into what debating their rights means for them. Heather Johnson, a transwoman and Marine veteran, said, “It should be noted that discrimination against even 1.4% of the population is still illegal discrimination. Young people of all backgrounds deserve access to the proven social, mental and physical benefits of sport. I believe that all trans people deserve to play sports and do what they love.”

Quilcene High School English teacher Courtney Beck reminded everyone that the Quilcene student body is aware of the board’s desire to change its discrimination policy. “I just wanted to tell everyone who is not familiar with our student body that we have the kindest, most accepting student body that I could ever imagine,” Beck said, continuing, “What is being said here is not a reflection of what is actually happening in our school. I have been a volleyball coach for the last seven years. We've had exactly zero transgender athletes play sports since I've taught here.”

This is not the first time that the Quilcene School Board has debated violating state law to discriminate based on gender. The board invited Curtis Leonard from Pacific Law on November 6, 2024, to advise the board on the legality of changing their discrimination policy, ultimately advising them that they would be in violation of state law. Quilcene School District would likely lose its state funding, which constitutes roughly half of the School District’s overall budget.

School Board member Ron Frantz, who introduced the issue to the agenda, determined that recent changes to wording in federal law Title Nine, the word “gender” was changed back to the original “sex,” opened up room for debate locally.

School Board member Viviann Kuehl, who serves as their Legeslative Representive, made it clear that the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the set of governing rules that they have to abide by, siting RCW 49.60, which states that discrimination based on gender is illegal.

Kuehl started the meeting by asking for the item to be dropped from the agenda, as it wasn’t something that they could legally consider. In her arguments, she reminded fellow board members that “The existing law says it's not legal to discriminate. When we do the pledge of allegiance, it says 'Liberty and Justice for All,' and that's what we're bound to do.”

The board ultimately decided to wait for further guidance from the state and will debate their policy again at their April meeting. The remainder of the March 19 board meeting was consumed by Frantz's proposal to introduce a Bible-based curriculum to the Quilcene Middle School. Frantz was ulitmately directed to work with the curriculum subcommittee.

Correction: an earlier version referred to Viviann Kuehl as the school board’s Legal Representive, when she is their Legislative Representitive.