A former Maine school board member was slammed for her brazen remarks about parents who oppose transgender students in sports.

Kennebunk Select Board Member Leslie Trentalange spoke out in a meeting on October 20, saying critics of transgender students being allowed to play sports have 'pedophilic tendencies.'

The discussion circulated after parents advocated for the school board to assign sports by sex rather than self gender identity.

During the meeting, Trentalange expressed that parents who have 'creepy obsessions' with trans athletes playing in sports are not the 'majority opinion.'

She added that these parents are a 'group who has made hate their only hobby' and 'made' the board listen to their 'rants.'

'Their obsession with what private parts are sitting in between the legs of our students is nothing less than creepy and should absolutely be raising eyebrows in and around our school district,' she said.

Trentalange also said that the parents 'clearly don't care about the well-being of the students.'

'For shame, their obsession with genitalia points not to caring for the students in this district, but perhaps toward an underlying guilt for their own pedophilic tendencies. There is a registry for that.'

The clapback sparked gasps among the room, with Board Chair Member Matthew Stratford immediately telling her to stop speaking.

'There is no place for that, Leslie,' he said. 'That was inappropriate.'

She fierily responded: 'I don’t think that was inappropriate at all, and I stand by my comments.' 

In a statement obtained by the Portland Press Herald, Stratford said there is 'no place for harassment, discriminatory language, disrespectful words, or other disruptive speech or comments' during the school board meetings.

Stratford did not address Trentalange's comments outright, but he did say the board meetings public comment periods have revolved around this contentious issue. 

The district's current policy aims toward a 'safe learning environment' and 'to assist in the educational and social integration of transgender and gender expansive students.'

'This policy remains compliant and grounded in Maine law, and the school board has no plans to revisit this during the 2025-26 school year,' Stratford wrote to the local outlet. 

Trentalange issued a half apology during another meeting on Tuesday, but made it clear she stands by her original comments. 

'If there are folks in the marginalized queer community who feel my message did not serve them, or hurt them in any way, it is that which I regret,' said Trentalange.

'I also regret the undue and undeserved backlash other members of the Select Board or town’s staff have felt over my comments as an individual.'

Trentalange also gave up her role as RSU 21 liaison- a select school board member for Kennebunk.