TUCSON (KVOA) - It was standing room only Tuesday night inside a board room at the Valley View Early Learning Center on Sunrise Drive.
A little more than 100 people sat shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the LGBTQ community and Transgender students.
"It is so beautiful seeing so many passionate and diverse allies in this audience today who give us hope in this difficult topic," Catalina Foothills High School Student Mollika Sunder said. "Trans students are valued members of our community. They are friends and classmates, students and children."
"If you're not in support of it, just leave us alone," Mikey Shock said. "We do nothing to hurt you or harm you."
The Catalina Foothills School District maintains a non-discrimination policy.
If a student wants to keep their preferred pronouns private, parents do not have to be informed.
Some CFSD parents tell News 4 Tucson some outsiders who do not have kids in the district are trying to push change that would create a policy requiring parents to be informed about a student's pronoun and require students to use the bathroom and locker room of the sex they were assigned at birth.
"You know we make these decisions locally for a reason so we can have more input on what's good for our kids," parent Carrie Clancy said.
Clancy has two high schoolers in the district.
"By a margin of 2 to 1, we elected a slate of governing board members who we are entrusting with our kids privacy and safety and school concerns," she said.
One man who declined to give News 4 Tucson his name, came from outside the district to listen Tuesday. He did not address the school board during a public comment period. His beliefs differed drastically from the overwhelming majority in attendance.
"It's definitely wrong because there is no such thing as transgender," he said. "It affects the kids. These kids are kids. They don't know what they're doing and the parents should know."
Clancy argues this issue has no place in the Catalina Foothills School District, a district that takes pride in its open, inclusive community.
"It's part of my job to respect every student's privacy and safety and to respect their wishes," Clancy said. "That what I would expect our teachers in CFSD to do as well and I think they are."
