“I love to learn and I’m dedicated and passionate about my education,” the transgender student said. “I want to focus on those goals. I don’t want my identity to be an issue. It’s not fair to turn my gender identity into a huge political statement, when it’s just who I am.”

A woman who survived sexual abuse, Billie Grant, defended transgender students and said she wouldn’t feel threatened if they shared the restroom or locker room with her.

“Will you see (students) as people who need a safe space to wash their face after P.E. or urinate before a test, or will you see them as predators?” Grant said.

Board member Yolanda Williams said she was disgusted by some of the “pure hatred and bigotry” she heard directed at OPS students by speakers, which prompted one woman opposing the policy to stand up and yell from the crowd that she was not “a bigot or a hater.”

The often fiery and impassioned opinions came as the OPS board weighed two separate issues regarding transgender students: Whether to expand its anti-discrimination policy to add gender identity and expression and whether the district should craft guidelines on transgender accommodations similar to those of the Bellevue Public Schools.