Community members packed into the Thompson School District Administration Building on Wednesday evening to provide public comment, most of it either supporting or criticizing board member Nancy Rumfelt for her position on transgender students, with particular focus on athletes.

Roughly 70 people used the three minutes they were allotted to address the board, a process that took over three hours during the school board’s monthly public meeting, and that required the district to make use of significant overflow space to accommodate all of those who wished to speak.

The controversy began when Rumfelt wore a shirt from clothing brand XX-XY Athletics, a sportswear brand founded by former Olympic Gymnast Jennifer Sey that has taken a public stance against transgender women participating in women’s sports.

The shirt, which read “Real Women Rock,” was seen by some as bigoted against transgender people and caused ripples of controversy on local social media, with many community members demanding that she be censured.

The school board broached the topic with Rumfelt during its most recent study session on March 5, with some terse comments made between Rumfelt and several other board members.

The dispute stretches back further, six months ago when Colleen Torres, a Loveland High School cross country coach, was removed from coaching duty, over what she and her supporters say were comments she made about transgender athletes competing in girls sports.

Rumfelt organized a town hall shortly after Torres’ dismissal to discuss the issue, a town hall where Sey, the XX-XY co-founder, was a key speaker.

Torres was one of the dozens of speakers at Wednesday’s meeting, beginning her remarks by congratulating the “real girls” who had been recognized earlier in the meeting for their athletic accomplishments.

“Here we are, all of us, both sides, tonight,” Torres said, gesturing to the crowd. “Putting the board on the spot that you need to be in, because this issue needs to be addressed.”

Torres was joined by other Rumfelt supporters who argued that allowing transgender women to participate on sports teams of their preferred gender was unfair to cisgender female athletes.

Opposed were a considerable number of supporters of transgender students, ranging from educators, some cisgender and some transgender, parents of transgender students, and some transgender students themselves, among others.

Maxine Bilodeau, a transgender student in the Thompson School District, described a friendship she shared with a classmate who disagreed with her on the issue of transgender rights, describing a dream where such disagreements can be had peacefully and without hostility.

“I feel it is disrespectful to wear a T-shirt that advocates for my oppression,” she said. “That is not in service of the dream. We may not agree with each other, but we need to respect each other.”