Small town on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula shows its pride following school trans ban

The small town of Quilcene, tucked away on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, is known for logging, plentiful oysters, and scenic views on Highway 101. But recently the otherwise tight-knit community has been shaken up by some national politics. Quilcene is the first school district in Washington state to ban trans athletes — even though there are no trans athletes there.

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t’s game night at the Quilcene Community Center. Teenagers sit around a big table playing Dungeons and Dragons. Some are sprawled out on couches reading comics.

"We've got a pool table there, but I have to get one of the pockets fixed,” says Richard Fitzgerald, a tall guy who towers over all of the kids in the room.

Fitzgerald runs the community center. He grew up in Quilcene and is now raising his son here.

"I've done this game night because the kids need a place to be able to be themselves,” he told KUOW in June.

This is the place to be on a Wednesday night in Quilcene. Parents say it’s one of the few spots in town to take their kids during the week. People here are talking about the big controversy in town: the decision by the school board to ban trans students from playing sports of their choice.

The Quilcene board passed the resolution on May 7.

"Most of the teachers are really encouraging, but the school board isn't. It's gross,” said 13-year-old Tallulah Johnson, here with her parents who play dominos in the next room.

As soon as she’s asked about the ban, Tallulah says: “That's stupid. I have a lot of friends in that category. They won't be able to participate and that is... not good. I don't like that."

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Older kids, too, were rattled by the decision. Sixteen-year-old Lorenzo Mascaro is a junior at Quilcene High. He says he never really paid attention to the school board until the ban came up.

"Basically the whole school was riled up after this resolution was made,” he said. “Everybody was very, sort of disturbed by it. They were like, wow. Like, really? They were kind of baffled."

There are not a lot of trans kids in Quilcene. The graduating class last year was about 20 students.

But Lorenzo says the few he does know feel singled out by the school board.

“They're scared because the fact that this resolution was even thought about sends a very clear message to trans kids in Quilcene,” Lorenzo said. “It just says, ‘You don't belong here.’”

Both Lorenzo and Tallulah are in the school’s Diversity Club, a group that formed when the board first started considering the ban.

Science teacher Morgan Ramey-Dixon, who started the club, says things inside the school changed soon after the board approved the ban.

“I saw the bullying tick up immediately,” she told KUOW. “Within the week, there were kids here who were saying, ‘We're just gonna ban the trans kids from the school, like they don't belong here anyway, we need to kick them out.’”

RELATED: Proposal to keep trans athletes out of girls' sports fails in Washington state

About 600 people live in Quilcene. It's pretty balanced between conservative and liberal. Trump won the area last year by three points. Trans rights have never been an issue here before.

But this past school year, Richard Fitzgerald says, after the election, the town got political.

"When the river flooded, we would be there throwing sandbags in front of your house. That's what this community used to do,” he said. “Now, there's this divide where people are just vile to each other, and it's disheartening. It's horrible to see, and I think that that's got to stop."

So, Fitzgerald is doing something he'd never thought he'd do: He's running for the school board.

He and Naomi Stern, a parent of two, are running to tip the balance of the board that they feel has grown too political.

It's not just the trans ban they want to reverse. The school board is also considering a new Bible curriculum and banning some books from the library.

"It's just a whole litany of things that just needs to just stop,” Fitzgerald said. “So me running for the school board came down to — what can I do to help these kids have a voice that they obviously haven't been having?"

The current school board is split 3-2, with the majority pushing the new resolutions. Those three members didn’t respond to interview requests with KUOW, despite multiple attempts to reach them.

Here’s what is known about them publicly:

• Shona Davis recently posted an anti-trans post to her Facebook page. She also has posts supporting President Trump and anti-vaccine memes.
• Another member, Ron Frantz, directs a ministry and has written books about Christianity and American values.
• At an April meeting, the third board member, Jim Hodgson, showed a video from a conservative media outlet that said people are claiming to be transgender who are really not.

These three do have support in Quilcene. At a few board meetings this spring, some community members said they are concerned about fairness in sports.

Jeremy Lakenes, who homeschools his children, said he’s worried about safety in locker rooms and bathrooms.

"Would anyone with a teenage daughter let her bring a 'trans girl' with a penis and testicles to sleep over?” Lakenes said at the board May meeting before the vote on the ban. “I don't think so."

People in Quilcene opposed to the ban wonder why the board brought this up now, considering there are no trans students currently playing school sports.

At the state track and field championship in June, some of the Tumwater High School girls’ team made news when they wore shirts that said, "Keep Women's Sports Female."

That was after a transgender athlete beat them in an event.

But nothing like that has happened in Quilcene.

Opponents say they think this is part of a national trend of school districts restricting trans rights and banning some books.

“This is a national issue, and it's a state issue,” said Ron Frantz, who supported the ban on the day of the vote. “The issue has been forced upon our community.”

Quilcene Superintendent Ron Moag wouldn’t talk to KUOW for this story and hung up his cellphone quickly when called. That could be because of the resistance movement that has built up in town and online, with people showing up to board meetings in-person and on Zoom.

“We feel like we have to go to every single meeting because gosh knows what's going to come up next," said teacher Jenelle Cleland.

Even students started showing up to the meetings to protest the ban, like junior Lorenzo Mascaro.

"It made me want to get involved a little more,” he said, “and it made me realize, ‘Oh, this doesn't only appear on the news. It's here.’ And that makes me want to fight for others and to help out — fight for justice."

The ban has caught the attention of the state's office of public instruction, which said Quilcene schools could face sanctions.

The ACLU of Washington called the ban unlawful.

State law allows trans kids to participate in sports programs consistent with their gender identity.

One regular at the board meetings is teacher Cortney Beck, who said she's worried about potential lawsuits.

"We're a small school, and so we don't get a lot of funding,” Beck told KUOW. “We are a low socio-economic community. Something like this could be a huge blow to our school."

The trans ban stirred up a controversy in the otherwise sleepy Quilcene. But it didn't rip the town apart.

Instead people in town say it’s galvanized them to defend the local trans community, as small as it might be in the rural area.

"It definitely has affected the climate and culture of our school in a really somber way,” Beck said, “but at the same time, it has brought us so close."

Beck, who has taught in Quilcene for 12 years, says the school board does not reflect the student body. At graduation this year, some students wore rainbow Pride pins on their gowns to show support for their LGBTQ+ classmates.

“You see the students all wearing the buttons, banding together,” Cleland said. “Students are wanting to support each other and make everyone feel safe and comfortable, and that's the Quilcene that I know.”

The ban has forced this small community to have conversations it might not have had otherwise, about acceptance and identity. It spurred two parents to go from attending board meetings to running for a seat to set policy.

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At the busy community center on game night, Richard Fitzgerald says he's running to make the board as accepting as the center — open to all kids.

"So that they have the opportunity to be what they would like to be,” he said, “and be comfortable."

Quilcene may be one of the first school districts to pass a trans ban, but others could follow.

In April, Washington's governing body of athletics and activities considered limiting girls' sports to biological females. The effort failed by a single vote.