Community members from the Wappingers School District spoke up Monday night about the school's transgender bathroom policy at a board meeting on Monday.

The topic was the main issue discussed during the public comment section.

It comes after a group was scheduled on Monday to protest a transgender student's use of the girl's bathroom.

At the meeting, officials heard from parents, students and community advocates who mixed opinions about the topic.

"These transgender students are always protected, but there's no protection for female students," said one speaker.

"If people are concerned about men in women's bathrooms, you're concerned about rape culture. It's not about trans kids," said another speaker.

Karen Svoboda, the executive director at Defense of Democracy, said she was proud of the community's turnout at Monday's meeting.

She said she is a parent of a student within the district and issued a statement to News 12 saying, "I believe that community support of our lgbt [sic] students is strong."

In her statement, Svoboda added that she's "watched our elected school board members shrink away from opportunities to protect our children from bullying (both from adults and now openly from other children in the district)."

News 12 reached out to the district for a comment regarding their bathroom policy but did not hear back.

Students at John Jay High School staged a walk-out and held a protest several months ago after saying a culture of hatred had developed within the school.