An Insider's View of What Happened at the East Aurora School Board's Meeting Rescinding Support for Transgender Students
October 20, 2012 By Hemant Mehta
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/10/20/an-insiders-view-of-what-happened-at-the-east-aurora-school-boards-meeting-rescinding-support-for-transgender-students/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/10/20/an-insiders-view-of-what-happened-at-the-east-aurora-school-boards-meeting-rescinding-support-for-transgender-students/)
Rick Einhorn attended yesterday's school board meeting and offers this guest post of what he saw and heard:
I first heard about the situation with the East Aurora School Board last night when a friend directed me to Hemant's blog post about it. Both the Human Rights Commission and Planned Parenthood sent out emails urging people to contact the school board or show up if it was possible. I live within walking distance of the the building where the school board meets and have this crazy view that protecting kids and helping create a safe environment to learn is very important for the education of all students.
It seemed like a good opportunity to go show my support.
What follows is my take on the meeting. I've written things down as accurately as I remember them, but I apologize in advance for any unintentional misquotes.
Before heading over to the school board meeting, we were told that the sizable police presence around the meeting was due to death threats that had been directed at some board members. It was not specifically stated who the threats were from. At 4:45p they began letting people into the chamber where the meetings are held. Judging by the red and purple shirts, and the general tone of conversation, the crowd seemed heavily in favor of keeping the new policy in place. There had been rumors of people opposing the policy being bussed in but that never materialized.