[photo credit - Steve Ahlquist, RIFuture.news]

Hey folks,

We wanted to give you a quick update -- despite our full time jobs as teachers, the organizers of this petition are still very much making moves on this issue! Here are some updates:

1. Last Saturday, we were at the Hands Off protest in Providence, alongside thousands of others committed to fighting back against tyranny in Providence. Despite the rainy weather, we managed to gather 100+ new signatures that day and got to interact with some great people.
2. Last Tuesday we attended the Foster-Glocester school committee to protest the fact that the Foster District had put up a new "definition of sex" on their website that basically parroted the January 20th executive order on gender and denied the existence and belonging of trans students. The district removed the change shortly prior to the meeting, after having been contacted by RIDE. Attending that meeting was life-affirming because there were parents, community members, advocates, and speakers as young as the eighth grade all coming together to support trans and gender diverse people. No one showed up from the other side and the Title IX discussion that they scheduled for an "executive session" (not open to the public) did not lead to a vote -- we see that as a win. You can read more about it in this article. 
3. We are starting to hold meetings with potentially sympathetic RIIL member principals to see what commitments we can get in terms of pushing back on RIIL. If you believe that your principal might be supportive of restoring the language that explicitly supported trans youth, email us at risports4all@blackstoneacademy.org to pass along that information.
4. We are at 785 petition signatures and counting. Change.org says that petitions that reach the milestone of 1,000 signatures are more highly correlated with campaign success, so help us get to that level by continuing to share with your networks.
5. Finally, RIIL has so far been completely unwilling to provide the "proper venue" to hear from the public regarding this issue. Petitioners and principals who have called in to talk to Director Lunney have been told that, as a private organization, they are not obligated to hold a public meeting on this matter. Keep up the fight by taking the further action steps outlined in this document.

Thank you for reading.  Till next time -- stay safe, healthy, and in the fight!