The Nevada Faculty Alliance (NFA) on Sunday called for higher education Regent Patrick Boylan to resign. The faculty group said his comments at Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents meetings are transphobic, discriminatory and harassing.
“We are deeply angered by repeated anti-transgender comments made by Regent Patrick Boylan during the quarterly Board of Regents meeting on Friday, March 1st,” NFA’s board members wrote in a statement to the news media. “We are especially appalled by his aggressive response to a student leader who gave public comment decrying remarks made earlier in the meeting.
“In the March 1 meeting, Regent Boylan also questioned the qualifications of students from underrepresented minority groups.”
Boylan often makes transphobic comments, such as referring to genders as “she, he, it, whatever,” at Regents meetings. At Friday’s meeting, he questioned athletic directors about “men masquerading as women” in athletics.
“My question is, it’s all over the country—schools, colleges, universities—do we have any men masquerading as women playing in any of our teams and hurting any of the women?” he asked. “Do we have that issue here in NSHE?”
NFA said Boylan’s comments Friday were not isolated.
“Regent Boylan has a history of racist and discriminatory remarks that have been condemned by a number of NSHE students, including the Senate of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada,” they wrote. “This behavior is not only offensive, it violates the NSHE Board of Regents Anti-Discrimination Resolution, which states that ‘the Board recognizes its resounding responsibility to the NSHE community, the State of Nevada, and its higher education families throughout the nation to denounce any words or actions with discriminatory intent or effect, and such efforts are exemplified by the leadership and representations of its Regents.’”
“We need to be diligent to point out these inappropriate comments. They need to be pointed out, discouraged and discussed to produce understanding and changes in behavior.”
– Laura Perkins, Nevada System of Higher Education regent
They said that because his remarks have “directly attacked thousands of members of the NSHE community” in violation of NSHE’s anti-discrimination policies, the board is calling for his resignation.
Regent Laura Perkins called Boylan’s comments inappropriate. She considers diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) advocacy part of the role of the board.
“I think our job is to educate and advocate for those who have been marginalized; this is all part of DEI,” she told This Is Reno. “We need to be diligent to point out these inappropriate comments. They need to be pointed out, discouraged and discussed to produce understanding and changes in behavior.
Readily available online resources show Boylan’s remarks to be uninformed and misleading.
A University of Kansas factsheet indicates transgender athletes have been participating on sports teams for decades and that, “States that have transgender-inclusive sports policies demonstrate consistent or
increased participation of girls in sports, unlike those states that exclude transgender youth from sports.”
The Human Rights Campaign website notes similar anti-transgender tropes have little basis in reality.
“For the last two decades, anti-LGBTQ+ politicians have attempted to sow disinformation about LGBTQ+ people’s rights to score cheap political points with their base,” the organization notes. “If there was truly an existential issue with transgender athletes competing in sports, [athletic governing bodies] would be taking more specific steps to address it.
“What we’re actually seeing is the opposite—legislators using transgender youth as a culture war talking point are attempting to put into place bans that nobody is asking for.”
The American Civil Liberties Union says perspectives like Boylan’s are not only false but harmful.
“Many who oppose the inclusion of trans athletes erroneously claim that allowing trans athletes to compete will harm cisgender women,” the ACLU notes. “This divide-and-conquer tactic gets it exactly wrong. Excluding women who are trans hurts all women. It invites gender policing that could subject any woman to invasive tests or accusations of being ‘too masculine’ or ‘too good’ at their sport to be a ‘real’ woman.”
Boylan did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
