A profanity-laced argument that almost turned into a physical altercation. An auditorium full of people turning their backs and humming to drown out an anti-transgender protester. A defiant rendition of “This Little Light of Mine.”

The near-constant disruptions stretched the November meeting of a Manhattan parent council to nearly four hours. About halfway through, Maud Maron, a conservative activist and the council’s best-known member, paused to admonish the crowd.

“This has become theater,” she said. “Next month will be the 10th month of these histrionics.”

Ms. Maron’s critics say she’s the one putting on a show. As she spoke, she wore a black trucker hat with the blue and green logo of “XX-XY Athletics” — a clothing company whose mission statement revolves around the idea that “women’s sports need to remain female.”

The question of whether transgender girls should be allowed to play girls’ sports and the debate over the rights of transgender people more broadly have prompted political skirmishes on county commissions, college campuses and the presidential campaign trail.

In New York, that question has made the community education council for District 2 — one of the city’s largest and wealthiest school districts, covering Lower Manhattan, Midtown and the Upper East Side — almost entirely unable to function.

And at the center of it all is Ms. Maron, 53, who in March led the passage of a resolution that asked the city’s Department of Education to reconsider its policy of allowing transgender students to play on teams that match their gender identity.

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