Gender Ideology in Education: Policies for Transgender Students, Rewriting Title IX, and Sex Education
Over the past few years, issues pertaining to “gender identity” have become front and center in conversations about children, school, and parents’ rights.
Policies for Transgender Students
State education departments and school districts have proposed and adopted policies that allow students to begin using a name, pronouns, and facilities that align with their gender identity—at times without their parents’ knowledge. The people who care most for a child have in some cases been left completely in the dark, with no idea that their son or daughter now identifies as another sex at school.
A school’s plan to recognize a student’s “gender identity” is often called a “gender support plan.” These plans typically document a student’s preferred name and pronouns, as well as their designated locker room and restroom facilities.
In one example, a girl in Chicago came out as a boy to her teachers. Her teachers, without telling her parents, began referring to the girl by her new, male name and male pronouns. The school gave her access to a gender-neutral restroom. Sadly, situations like this are possible when schools have “gender support plans” and are not required to disclose the plan to parents.
Rewriting Title IX
In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex.” The Biden Administration has proposed a new Title IX rule that would erase “sex” and replace it with “gender identity.”
If the proposed rule is approved, biological boys who “identify” as girls would be allowed to participate in girls’ sports, and use girls’ locker rooms or restrooms facilities, in public schools. Schools will be required to certify that they are in compliance with federal law to receive federal funding.
The Biden Administration will force every school to obey its “gender identity” revolution by withholding federal funding for non-compliance.
Parents Defending Education has the full story of Title IX in this helpful document.
Sex Education
Sex education, often part of school “health” curriculums, has started to include increasingly controversial and inappropriate content regarding gender and sexuality.
Parents Defending Education discovered that in New Jersey, sex education curriculum for second graders included discussing “the range of ways people express their gender and how gender-role stereotypes may limit behavior.” Fifth-graders were taught about masturbation and sexual feelings, and eighth-graders were asked to define “vaginal, oral, and anal sex.” After shedding light on the curriculum, parents were given the choice to “opt-in” their students to each part of the curriculum.
Further reading:
My daughter thinks she’s transgender. Her public school undermined my efforts to help her by Jay Keck in USA Today
The War on Parents’ Rights by Mary Rice Hasson in the Washington Examiner
Summary of Parental Opt-Out Rights for Sex Education in California, Pacific Justice Institute