Tempers flared and passions ran high this week in Illinois and Colorado as debates over transgender athletes in girls’ sports and related education policies took center stage at local school board meetings. In both states, recent political developments and community activism have brought the issue of transgender participation in female athletics—and the broader question of student rights and parental notification—into sharp focus, drawing large crowds and sparking intense discussion.
On August 20, 2025, parents and community members packed into a School District 211 board meeting in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, to express their concerns after a transgender student made the girls’ volleyball team at Conant High School. According to 24/7 New Source and WLS, the meeting, held in Schaumburg, saw a heated exchange of opinions, with police ultimately escorting one woman from the room as tensions boiled over. The controversy was heightened by the fact that, earlier in 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in female sports—an order that has become a rallying point for some parents and advocacy groups.
Although the transgender student at the heart of the Conant High School volleyball controversy is reportedly no longer on the team, the issue has continued to provoke strong feelings on both sides. A group called Citizens for Kids Education organized many of the meeting’s speakers opposed to the student’s participation, aligning their stance with Trump’s executive order. “You are infringing on the rights of all those girls to their private protected spaces,” argued D211 parent Angela Christman, as reported by WLS. She pressed further, stating, “If biological gender didn’t matter in bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams then we wouldn’t have a separation of those things now. Everyone would just use the same bathroom or locker room.”
But the meeting was far from one-sided. Supporters of transgender rights also made their voices heard, emphasizing the importance of inclusion and respect for all students. Kevin Morrison, the first openly-gay Cook County commissioner and a graduate of Conant High School, addressed the crowd, reminding them, “We are speaking about children, and it is so harmful when we dehumanize their individual identities.” He confirmed that, as of the meeting date, the transgender athlete had left the team, a fact that did little to quell the broader debate.
Justin O’Rourke, representing the Community Mental Health Project, underscored the need for community support, saying, “It’s important that when a kid wants to participate there are community members that have their back, not trying to attack these kids for their own political gains.” The school district itself, while keeping information about individual students confidential, issued a statement supporting students’ access to athletic opportunities consistent with board policy. No formal vote on the participation of transgender athletes is pending, but the board encouraged anyone wishing to speak on the topic to attend the next meeting, scheduled for September 2025.
This local debate in Illinois is unfolding against a national backdrop of legal and political maneuvering. President Trump’s executive order earlier this year, which bans transgender women from competing in female sports, has emboldened groups seeking to restrict transgender participation at the local level. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take up a new case that could determine which school sports teams transgender students are allowed to join, suggesting that the issue is far from settled at any level of government.
Meanwhile, in Pueblo, Colorado, a different but related conversation is taking shape. On August 21, 2025, Pueblo Republicans gathered at the Lamb Library to hear from candidates for the District 60 Board of Education, City Council, and the Water Board. The event highlighted the growing influence of conservative activism in what has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold. Candidates addressed a range of issues, but the topic of girls’ sports and transgender participation was front and center for Daniel McHenry, who is running for the District 60 Board of Education.
McHenry, echoing sentiments heard in Illinois, made it clear that he would prioritize protecting girls’ sports if elected. “If I’m sitting on the school board, I will advocate for students getting a quality education every day, all day, every day,” he stated, according to the Colorado Times Recorder. “To the exclusion of other things that do not advance that specific ideal. I will advocate for and do what I can to protect girls’ sports. There’s no room in girls’ sports for boys to be competing against girls in girls’ sports.”
The issue of school choice also featured prominently in the Pueblo discussions. McHenry voiced his support for competition in public education, arguing, “If there’s a failing public school, well, there’s other options. There’s competition in the marketplace for public education. Public education is what matters. That’s what we’re delivering to these children, whatever vehicle they use to get there, and whatever tools we have at our access to help them achieve that education.”
Recent decisions by the District 60 board have further fueled debate. On August 12, 2025, the board voted not to grant a waiver for a new charter school proposal at the site of the former Chávez Huerta Preparatory Academy, a move that disappointed some advocates of school choice. In October 2024, two board members supported a policy requiring parental notification for non-legal name changes—a policy that contradicted an existing 2016 guideline and drew widespread opposition from community members concerned about the safety of LGBTQ youth.
Elsewhere at the Pueblo event, Dave DeCenzo, a candidate for the Water Board, discussed concerns about fluoride in the water supply, referencing both the standard amount (0.7 milligrams per liter) and recent federal developments. Earlier in 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his intention to advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending water fluoridation, and in May, the FDA began removing concentrated ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for children from the market. While not directly related to the transgender athlete debate, these issues reflect the broader context of parental rights, public health, and local control that is shaping school board elections and policy decisions across the country.
As these local and national debates continue, school boards in Illinois and Colorado find themselves at the nexus of cultural, political, and legal battles over who gets to participate in girls’ sports, how student identities are recognized, and what role parents and the community should play in shaping education policy. The next round of meetings and elections is sure to draw even more scrutiny, as advocates on all sides prepare to make their case—sometimes loudly, always passionately, and with the future of local schools and their students hanging in the balance.
With the next board meetings looming and the Supreme Court poised to weigh in, the question of who belongs on the field—and who gets to decide—remains as urgent and unresolved as ever.
