California School Board Meeting Erupts After Student's Tearful Plea on Trans Athlete Locker Room Policy

A high school board meeting in California turned into an emotional battleground as the debate over transgender athletes’ rights to share locker rooms with female students took center stage. During the Lucia Mar Unified School District meeting, Celeste Diest, a junior and girls' track athlete from Arroyo Grande High School, delivered a tearful speech recounting her distress over having to change in front of a biologically male trans athlete. Diest described the incident as "beyond traumatizing," accusing the school’s policy of disregarding the comfort and privacy of female students.

Fighting through tears, Diest asserted, "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." She argued that biological sex should matter in school sports, calling it "basic biology." However, she was abruptly interrupted by board president Colleen Martin, who told her to "wrap it up"—a phrase that, let’s be honest, is probably not in the handbook for handling emotionally charged testimony from students.

Despite the interruption, Diest finished her remarks, asking, "What about us? 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."

After Diest left the podium, the audience erupted in applause—so much so that Martin tried to silence the cheers by slamming her gavel and shouting "No!" The applause only intensified, highlighting just how deeply divided the community is over this issue.

Earlier in the meeting, another speaker, Shannon Kessler, requested to give her time to Diest, but Martin denied it, stating, "We're not doing that." The meeting continued with other parents and community members voicing both opposition and support regarding the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ sports.

California has allowed transgender students to participate in school sports and use facilities consistent with their gender identity since the passage of AB 1266 in 2014. The law, as well as regulations from the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), guarantees these rights regardless of the gender listed on official school records. The CIF reaffirmed its commitment to these policies, stating, "The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law."

This policy has led to repeated controversies, with heated public debate intensifying in the past year. Most recently, California’s Democrat-led legislature rejected two bills that would have banned trans athletes from girls’ sports, underscoring the state’s firm stance on inclusion.