New Hanover County Board of Education Discusses LGBTQ Policy Changes

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– A policy on transgender high school athletes will be brought back up to the New Hanover County School Board after a Jan. 10 voteth the assembly canceled the vote from June.

“I just think this is a behind the scenes attempt to disenfranchise transgender students and not provide equal opportunities for all of our students,” said Stephanie Kraybill, a member of the New Hanover County Board of Education.

Last week, Kraybill didn’t mince words when she called on Pat Bradford to rescind a motion passed in June that rejected Policy 3630’s first reading.

This policy states in part, “…a student participating in high school athletics may participate on a team consistent with their gender identity…”.

“We spend so much time going over the minutiae of Roberts’ rules of order and fixing things, and that night we got it wrong because we gave up on the first reading of an important thing,” said Pat, chairman of the New Hanover Bradford County Board of Education.

But Jessica Cannon, a volunteer counselor with LGBT Teen Suicide Prevention, says canceling the vote would do more harm than good.

“They will feel ostracized, they will feel rejected, they will feel adults are sending them a message that they don’t belong. And sadly, we know that our LGBTQ youth are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts,” Cannon said.

Kraybill says that could be a potential violation of Section 9 discrimination laws.

“The new law is unclear about athletics, but it’s clear that you have to provide equal opportunities for all students, regardless of what you think about transgender people,” Kraybill said.

In the end, the motion to overturn the motion, which was denied first reading, passed 5-2 and was sent back to the Policy Committee for further discussion.

“They took an oath to protect all our children. Not just some of our children. I think it’s our responsibility to make them follow through on that promise,” Cannon said.

A meeting of the Political Committee is planned for Monday.

The agenda for the meeting will be released tomorrow, Wednesday, to confirm whether Policy 3630 will be discussed further.