LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Nevada System of Higher Education regent is refusing calls to resign after making controversial comments at a public meeting, including his views on transgender women in sports.
Regent Patrick Boylan made the remarks during a public regent's meeting Friday at the Desert Research Institute, after student Kevin Osorio Hernandez, the president of the Nevada State Student Alliance, expressed his objections to comments Boylan made earlier in the meeting.
Boylan replied during the public comment period.
"It doesn't matter what race, sex, anything you are, there's something known as the First Amendment, freedom of speech," Boylan said. "I see it as a man masquerading as a woman. If he has not had his, you-know-what cut off or anything, he's still a man. So I will say a man masquerading as a woman no matter what.
"That's the way I see it, that's the way I will say it," he added. "So if any of you think, like, fellow regents, and those students, that that will shut me up or keep me from saying things again, no, it won't. I will speak the truth as I see the truth."
The remarks drew a pointed response from the Nevada Faculty Alliance, which issued a statement on Sunday calling for Boylan to resign.
"The Nevada Faculty Alliance strongly condemns discriminatory, harassing or otherwise unacceptable behavior by any members of the Nevada System of Higher Education community," the statement said. "Because Regent Boylan's comments have directly attacked thousands of members of the (higher education) community and are in direct violation of the Regent's own anti-discrimination resolution, the State Board of the Nevada Faculty Alliance calls for his immediate resignation."
In an interview with KTNV, faculty alliance President Jim New said the issue wasn't going away. "I don't believe that this is an issue that is going to just blow over in the next couple of weeks," New said. "Reaction on the campuses especially to the message that we sent out has been visceral, and we believe that students and faculty are going to be standing up to the board of regents demanding his resignation if he won't do it himself, so it's not going away."
But Boylan said he would not resign, and stood by his remarks, even as he acknowledged he could have phrased his comment differently.
He told KTNV that the issue came up after he asked whether biological men were playing women's sports at Nevada schools, a question he said was prompted by his concern for the safety of female athletes.
"It's extremely dangerous for trans, well, the guys who are women or whatever they're called, trans athletes, how easily they can hurt female athletes," he said. "And that was my concern, the safety and seeing that athletes be given the proper chance to be given the right, the right chance to win."
Boylan said he had no intent to target or demean any group. "It was not my intent," he said. "My intent, as always, in most meetings, I'm concerned about the safety of students, faculty, staff, everybody there. I was really concerned about the student athletes, female student athletes, but if others construe it that way and they misunderstand what I said, that's a shame. I feel bad that their feelings got hurt, but I don't feel bad at the words I used."
Asked if he could understand that transgender women would feel attacked because he was saying they weren't real women, Boylan stuck by his remarks: "Of course I'm saying they're not really women. They're men. They want to go through physical changes, get surgery, get chemical treatment, but of course they're not really women."
The chair and vice chair of the board of regents issued a statement Monday that said the board was committed to "fostering an environment of inclusivity and respect for all individuals" within the system, and that the board "is dedicated to upholding the principles of of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access."
"In reference to certain statements that were made during the Board of Regents most recent Quarterly Meeting, we offer our strong support to any individuals who felt excluded, offended or disrespected by any comments made during the meeting," the statement reads.
Boylan, for his part, said he agreed with the regent's statement, but defended himself as not politically correct.
"I'm sure there would have been a better way (to say things)," he said. "It's a question of Monday morning quarterbacking. Are we going to say I could have, would have, should have, yeah. We always say things in the heat of the moment. And yeah, there's a better way of saying it. I could have said it in a more politically correct way. But unfortunately, I'm not a very politically correct person."
Brady McGill, president of Las Vegas Pride, said Boylan's comments disqualify him for the job, and joined in calls for him to step down from the seat he won in a close election in 2020.
"I think at the bottom line, a doctor, an elected official, a representative that doesn't understand that they're representing everybody that does not understand the base of what they're doing needs to go," he said. "I don't think there's room for someone that is bigoted, racist, transphobic or homophobic to be serving in public office because they're frankly representing people that are those things. And they can't do that effectively. And unless you can respect the role and the seat that you're in, you should not be in that job."
UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that the chair and the vice chair of the board of regents issued a statement following the meeting at which Boylan's comments were made.
