During the Lucia Mar Unified School District (LMUSD) board meeting on Wednesday, a high-school junior girls’ track athlete at Arroyo Grande High School named Celeste Diest took the podium to recount her experience of having to change in front of a biologically male trans athlete before practice, while that athlete allegedly watched her undress.
“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. This experience was beyond traumatizing,” Diest said, as she began to choke up and cry.
“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.”
Diest then fought through her tears to argue that the trans athlete’s XY chromosomes define the person as a male, adding, “That is basic biology.”
But Diest was then interrupted by LMUSD board president Colleen Martin.
“Okay, please wrap it up,” Martin said, gesturing to Diest to finish her point.
The teen then sniffled and continued speaking.
“I just want to ask ‘what about us?’ We can not 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.”
Diest then walked away from the podium to a roaring applause from the audience before Martin tried to silence the cheers.
Martin even began slamming her gavel down to try and temper the growing applause, but the cheers only got louder after that.
“No!” Martin yelled when the cheers got louder.
Then, Martin just sat there silently as the applause continued for several more seconds, before it finally tempered, and the next speaker gave another speech opposing trans inclusion.
Prior to Diest’s speech, one of the other speakers, a woman named Shannon Kessler, who was scheduled to go after the teen, asked Martin whether she could give her speaking time to Diest. But Martin denied that request.
Then, Martin just sat there silently as the applause continued for several more seconds, before it finally tempered, and the next speaker gave another speech opposing trans inclusion.
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“We’re not doing that,” Martin said.
Several other parents gave speeches in opposition of trans athletes in attendance, while other community members spoke in support of trans inclusion.
California has been one of the many blue states in the nation to defy President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, and has allowed trans athletes to compete with girls for over a decade.