On protecting kids.

April 18, 2024

Last night I spoke at the Community Education Committee meeting for District 2 in Manhattan, in opposition to a resolution passed last month by an 8–3 vote targeting the rights of trans girls.

Organized in just two weeks by amazing advocates like @chasestrangio and @paolamendoza , we packed the small auditorium with over 70 supporters of trans kids, all dressed in white, including parents of queer and trans children in the district, teachers & educators, a State Senator, and dozens of concerned citizens.

In the first speaking session, I spoke from rage and love about my life as an athlete, abandonment by my family, and the ludicrousness of taking away a healthy outlet from young people who are already the most targeted and marginalized in our school systems.

Chase said it best: discriminatory actions like these rely on the false assumption that trans people don’t have allies in our corner. Honestly, there are hopeless days when I feel like my trans siblings and I are alone in this fight, and that our screaming from the rooftops is futile.

I’ve talked a lot about my fear that I may have to leave the country and the city I call home if these legislative attacks continue to escalate through the election and into a second Trump presidency. When the well-meaning cis people in my life hear this, they try to comfort me by saying I’ll be safe in NYC, that what is happening around the country could never happen here.

That is a gross fallacy. This poison is everywhere, and is spreading with a rapid urgency that frightens me to my core. Do you really think these bigots are going to settle for just the red states? The ultimate goal of these people is to take their hate and sow it in every corner of America. The end goal has always been the eradication of transgender people everywhere.

What is most shocking is that, with the exception of a few vitriolic members of the committee from the hate organization Moms 4 Liberty who intentionally left the room while I spoke, many of the 8 who voted “yes” seem to be well-intentioned parents who have fallen prey to the misinformation barrage peddled by major media organizations and lobbying groups.

I spent my second speaking session trying to appeal to their empathy. With a level head, I told them about my experience with the women’s rugby community, and all of the medical hoops I have had to jump through to keep a place on my team. Many of them wouldn’t even hold my gaze.

Last night relit the fire inside of me that has been dimming day by day. There are people who care and love us just for living. For being evidence that a world where we can all be free is possible. This fight is only beginning, and I want to recruit you.

We’ll be at the next CEC meeting, and the one after that, and the one after that. We are mobilizing parents in the district to vote these awful people out of their positions. And we are going to make it very clear that we will guard transgender children with every ounce of strength our bodies and minds possess.

If you want to join this fight, send me a DM and I’ll get you in touch with the right people. If you ever wondered what you would do on the precipice of the destruction of human rights throughout history, this is your chance to land firmly on the right side.

“My name is Grace McKenzie, my pronouns are she/her and I am a trans woman playing women’s rugby with the New York Rugby Club

When I was growing up as a boy, my father lived vicariously through me as a star athlete

My main sports were soccer and basketball but over the years I played almost every team sport in north america, from hockey to football

Sports taught me leadership, team work, and the value of perserverence. It gave me an outlet to process the gender dysphoria I was battling but did not understand, rather than drinking, doing drugs, or self harm.

The same father that lived vicariously through me for so long abandoned me when I transtioned and I haven’t heard from him in 3 years.

I thought I would never play sports again after I came out, due manily to the hateful rhetoric you are all being fed right now. Luckily, I found the welcoming community of women’s rugby, who gave me that same outlet I needed as a child, gave me a family that accepted me, and saved my life on multiple occasions.

I have been on hormones for 5 years, and I am by no means the strongest, nor fastest on my team. I play at the D2 level, which shouldn’t matter, but makes the fact you are trying to ban school children from sports utterly outrageous.

Kids just want to play with their friends, and especially for trans kids, find a group of people who accept them. You never know what a kid is suffering through alone, and whether their team may be saving their life, too. I urge you to reconsider your position on this issue, and to think of the harm that you may be inflicting on some of the most vulnerable children in this district.”