‘Wrap it up’: Dismissive school board president silences emotional student recounting trans trauma

A California school board president indifferently interrupted a student as she recounted her unsettling experiences with a trans athlete.

The emotionally charged debate over the inclusion of biological males in female sports took place during the April 15 Lucia Mar Unified School District (LMUSD) board meeting.

During it, Arroyo Grande High School junior and track athlete Celeste Diest took the lectern to share her story, describing herself as “a woman advocating for the renewal of female rights” after she and her teammates found themselves being watched by a trans athlete while changing in the girls’ locker room.

“Recently, I went into the women’s locker room to change for track practice where I saw, at the end of my row, a biological male watching not only myself, but the other young women undress,” Diest recalled as she began to cry. “This experience was beyond traumatizing.

“I must add, he is not changing in our locker room, because he’s in his track clothes, dressed and ready to go to practice at the beginning of the day. Therefore, there’s absolutely no reason for him to be in any locker room, let alone the [girls’].

“Adults like yourself make me and my peers feel like our own comfort was invalid, even though our privacy was and still is completely violated.”

After clearly showing the emotional damage the experience caused, she composed herself and very simply stated the obvious scientific argument against including boys in girls’ sports.

“That individual who identifies as female has XY chromosomes. Biologically that makes him a male because females have XX chromosomes. This is basic biology,” she said.

“OK, please wrap it up,” board President Colleen Martin interrupted.

“I just want to ask, ‘What about us?’” Diest replied as she fought back tears. “We cannot sit around and allow our rights to be given up to cater to an individual that is a man, who watches women undress and is stripping away female opportunity that once was fought for us. Sadly, we have to try and regain our rights back. I hope you put effort into the restoration of our school safety.”

Martin tried in vain to quiet the thunderous applause as Diest left the lectern. After her admonishments and gavel banging went unheeded, she even yelled “No!” to no avail before she let the crowd finish supporting Diest.

California law has allowed students to “participate in … athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,” since 2014.

California is just one of several Democrat-led states in open defiance of President Donald J. Trump’s Feb. 5 Executive Order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

The order states:

“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports. 

“Moreover, under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (Title IX), educational institutions receiving Federal funds cannot deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports. As some Federal courts have recognized, ‘ignoring fundamental biological truths between the two sexes deprives women and girls of meaningful access to educational facilities.’ Tennessee v. Cardona, 24-cv-00072 at 73 (E.D. Ky. 2024). See also Kansas v. U.S. Dept. of Education, 24-cv-04041 at 23 (D. Kan. 2024) (highlighting ‘Congress’ goals of protecting biological women in education’).  

“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” 

The Trump administration announced a lawsuit last week against the state of Maine for violating the order. There has been no word yet whether California will face a similar suit.