CalMatters: Another California school board takes aim at transgender athletes

April 30. 2025

ERA Senior Attorney for Policy & Education Equity Kel O’Hara is featured in a CalMatters article about school boards attempting to make it illegal for transgender students to play school sports.

Kel O’Hara, a senior attorney for Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco-based gender justice organization, said that even if the resolution is never enforced, the intention to exclude trans students will be harmful.

“Discriminating against trans students has really negative implications for their mental health and academic outcomes,” they said.

By framing the resolution as an injunction against boys in girls’ sports, O’Hara said, the board quietly invalidated transgender girls’ identity: “That rhetoric that these are just boys and men trying to get into women’s spaces is not accurate and is so harmful.” …

O’Hara said the few transgender students who play school sports are usually looking for teamwork and social connections, rather than seeking competitive advantage. Moreover, the focus on trans girls in women’s sports obscures more prevalent issues, such as unequal funding and resources for girls’ teams, they said.

Read the article.