An 18-year-old student from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, called out school officials in a board meeting on Thursday after a video went viral of a teen boy who identifies as transgender brawling with girls at the school.
“Firstly, the question we must address is, why are we affirming the mental confusion of this boy and putting the safety of women in jeopardy by allowing mentally confused men to use women’s spaces?” the female student questioned during public comments at the Riverside Unified School District Board Meeting.
She added that the teen boy, who allegedly believes he is female, has been accessing the girls’ restroom and locker room.
“Of course, any man who claims he is a woman will accept it, but what about the women? What about the true girls like myself who are female down to our DNA?” she continued. “Why don’t we ever get a say in whether or not we are comfortable with this? The truth is, we aren’t. The majority of us aren’t, and yet nothing has been done to protect the safety of these women.
“I will conclude with this. It all starts with you. You are in charge of the safety of us women…so please do something about it. Thank you,” she said.
“Why are we affirming the mental confusion of this boy and putting the safety of women in jeopardy by allowing mentally confused men to use women’s spaces?”
👑 ❤️ 👑 A young women bravely speaks out at the Riverside Unified District Board Meeting on 4/27/2023
A boy has been… pic.twitter.com/6XHUVMZoNP
— WomenAreReal (@WomenAreReals) April 28, 2023
FOX 11 Los Angeles reported on Thursday about the fight captured in the viral video, with students and parents telling the outlet that the transgender student has a history of erratic and uncomfortable behavior. Students said that while fights are an every-week occurrence at the school, the last two fights involved this same transgender student.
“He’s [in the] girls’ locker room, using girls’ restrooms,” MLK student Aiden Vermeir alleged. “He spit on my friends that are girls, females. He shows his genitals in the locker room.”
A Transgender student at a High School in Riverside, California has assaulted a girl after exposing his genitals and spitting at girls in the girls locker room.
According to a student witness, the transgender boy entered the girls locker room and after being confronted for… pic.twitter.com/KEU3mOq7QP
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 28, 2023
Several other concerned students and parents spoke to the school board during the meeting, some accusing them of only being interested in the incident because of how much media and social media attention the brawling video received.
“This isn’t right at all. He’s been bothering me and my friends continuously after the first fight,” a female student allegedly involved in the incident told the board.
“I’ve been reporting him. I’ve been in the office at least three times a week reporting about him and nothing is being done. And I don’t know what else I can do but talk to you guys,” she added.
When a woman who said she was the girl’s mother jumped in with an additional comment, Board President Dr. Angelo Farooq tried to shut her down.
“You’re not going to tell me I can’t speak when [he] jumped on my kid,” the woman alleged. “There’s no way that [she] is going to go to school on Monday and get jumped on again — I can guarantee you that. So if you don’t want to listen any other way, you will listen Monday if he is back at school.”
Another female student told the board: “I feel like the school should have done something the first time, the first fight, and it should not have escalated.”
[embedded content]
The Riverside Unified School District did release a statement to FOX 11 on Thursday, saying the student at the center of the controversy no longer attends the school.
“A video depicting an altercation involving students at Martin Luther King High School has been widely circulated on social media this week. This matter has had the full attention of Riverside Unified School District administration and is being addressed expeditiously,” the district said in the statement.
“Since the incident occurred, District staff has been working to ensure the safety and rights of all students are considered and promptly responded to. We are able to verify that the student involved will no longer be attending King High School,” the statement continues. “We encourage those who have taken interest in this story to respect the confidential nature of our specific discussions with those involved and the efforts we will continue to make to ensure we provide an appropriate learning environment for each student as required by law.”
Tom Hunt, who works as the board clerk, spoke after public comments were over and ultimately blamed the far-left California state lawmakers for mandating that schools cater to transgender students at the expense of women and girls.
“Some don’t like when I say this, but I’m going to say the truth, and I’m going to say the facts,” Hunt said. “The California legislature is the one who sets the law, and then school districts — we are not legislative bodies — implement them in our policies.”
“Some of these things that are concerns —and I understand them completely as a parent of two girls who went [to a local school] — need to be translated to our senators and assembly members because they are the ones making our laws…” he added.
California lawmakers notably passed a law that took effect in 2014, AB 1266, which states that students who identify as transgender have the right to participate in school activities, including sports, and use the bathrooms and locker rooms for the sex they believe they are. State lawmakers are currently entertaining the idea of mandating public schools in the state have a “gender-neutral” bathroom for students by 2025.
