In the April 15th meeting for the Lucia Mar school board, a track athlete at Arroyo Grande high school, Celeste Duyst, raised concerns over a transgender athlete participating in the sport and sharing a locker room with her.
Duyst became emotional during her comments, breaking down into tears and saying the transgender athlete watched her undress in the locker room. Her comments made national headlines, and last night’s board meeting brought this contentious issue forward again.
Two groups, one expressing support of the LGBTQ+ community, and another protesting transgender athletes in women’s sports clashed during public comment at last night’s meeting. Each speaker was granted only a minute, and public comment went on for well over an hour. The transgender student mentioned by Duyst also spoke, saying they were “ruthlessly slandered at the last board meeting.” Another teammate on the track team said Duyst doesn’t speak for them, calling it “disheartening to see how people will dehumanize each other.”
