At its last meeting, the Paso Robles school board got an earful from people concerned about transgender students and providing safe spaces for female student athletes—following the lead of residents a few miles south.
The topic wasn’t on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District’s May 13 meeting agenda, but several commenters who spoke during public comment urged the board to establish policies that would keep transgender student athletes from the women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.
A countywide call shared by Moms for Liberty urges schools to align with President Donald Trump’s executive orders like “keeping men out of women’s sports.” The Lucia Mar Unified School District was inundated with speakers on the issue during an April school board meeting, with one student’s comments garnering nationwide attention.
The Paso school board allotted 20 minutes total for the issue with three minutes per speaker. Two spoke in support of trans students while eight spoke against. However, not everyone who wanted to speak was able to because of the time constraint.
Those who spoke in support of transgender students said that they are “just trying to exist,” and that society should stop punching down its most vulnerable students and start lifting them all up.
“Do you have gender-separate bathrooms for your family at home? Do you know a trans person? Can you name five female athletes not named Williams or Clark?” resident Amy Salas asked the audience.
If not, she said, they likely “didn’t care about women’s sports.”
Christian Life Center Pastor Guy Drummond spoke against transgender athletes competing with girls.
“This is not about identity; it’s about fairness and fair play. Our young ladies need to be protected on the playing field, on the court, in the restrooms, and in the locker room,” he said.
Former Arroyo Grande mayor candidate Gaea Powell spoke as well. She accused pro-trans people of lacking intelligent and rational arguments, stating as an example that she’s been called a “Nazi” for her views.
School board member Jim Cogan told New Times he found her public comment disappointing. He added that Powell was “flat-out wrong” when she said that the statistics showing increased suicide rates among the LGBTQ-plus community were not true.
“We have the statistical data, we have the surveys—and for someone to get up and say, ‘I’m not going to believe this evidence because it counters my political opinion,’ is really upsetting,” he said. “Our students are not political pawns. This is not a political agenda.”
As far as Cogan is aware, he doesn’t know how many students in the district are transgender and how many compete in sports, but it’s a “tiny fraction.”
He said he’d rather focus on the issues that affect all students, like providing safe and secure campuses amid gun violence.
“Students have a lot greater fear of having a school shooting than they do running into someone in the bathroom,” he said.
At the end of the May 13 meeting, board member Kenney Enney suggested adding the discussion of trans athletes to the board’s upcoming agendas.
“Unfortunately, I can no longer stand by and watch girls be intimidated out of their own sports and out of their own private spaces,” he said. “We can’t live a lie anymore and force people to live a lie. I’m more concerned about teaching truth.”
Enney and board member Laurene McCoy supported the motion, but it was shut down in a 4-2 vote. Enney didn’t respond to New Times’ request for comment.
Cogan told New Times he hopes to move on from the matter.
“It’s amazing to me that there are so many adults out there who are focused on the sexuality of minors with whom they have no connection whatsoever,” he said, “and in any other context, we’d be calling law enforcement if there were adults so focused on the sexuality of minors … because it’s not appropriate—it’s not their business.” Δ
This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.