ReportWire

Tag: Gender Fluidity

  • Katy ISD’s Gender Fluidity Policy Forces Some Students Back In The Closet

    Katy ISD’s Gender Fluidity Policy Forces Some Students Back In The Closet

    Over a year into enacting a policy requiring instructors to tell parents if their children request to go by a different name or pronouns, Katy ISD officials report that there have been 36 instances where officials have made such notifications.

    This number is an increase compared to the 19 notifications made roughly two months after the policy was adopted in August 2023. According to a public information request filed by Students Engaged in Advancing Texas — a student-led advocacy group — there have been no identified cases where a family member was not informed of a name or pronoun change.

    The district declined to provide information regarding how and why decisions to notify were made, indicating that further details would be located in student files and confidential education records, which the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects.

    “It’s sad to see this number increasing, and students are standing up for those who can’t advocate for themselves,” Cameron Samuels, executive director of SEAT and a former Katy ISD student, said. “We really hope this won’t be a norm for future generations.”

    The controversial “gender fluidity” measure requires teachers to receive written permission from parents or guardians to use the name or different pronouns that a student requests to go by.

    However, it states that instructors can choose not to refer to a student by their chosen name or pronouns despite parental consent.

    One of the main arguments board president Victor Perez and fellow trustees Mary Ellen Cuzela, Amy Thieme and Morgan Calhoun made during the discussion before voting to approve the policy was that it reinforces the prioritization of parents’ rights.

    The trustees in favor of the measure also indicated that it would prevent teachers from interfering in parent-child relationships by withholding such information from students’ parents or guardians.

    Jarred Burton, a senior and president of Tompkins High School Sexuality and Gender Alliance, said those on the board who backed the policy’s passage are likely frustrated as the number of notifications going out to parents may not be as high as they initially anticipated.

    “It depends on the school and the teachers,” Burton said. “I have heard of a lot of teachers enforcing it, but a lot of teachers also see the danger in it, and they’re scared to enforce it.”

    “It’s not what they [trustees who supported it] wanted. It’s not what they envisioned,” he added. “I think it also shows how much of a waste of time it is for the district to constantly do all these things and make all these policies that they should know their employees, constituents and stakeholders don’t stand for.”

    Trustees Rebecca Fox, Dawn Champagne and Lance Redmon voted against passing the policy. During the August 2023 board meeting, Fox said it would “make problems worse” for the district, similar to the book policy and ban of websites like the Trevor Project, which triggered a complaint against the district.

    Fox’s concerns were actualized when SEAT filed a Title IX complaint against the district in November 2023. In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the matter.

    In an October 2023 report by the Houston Press, James Onambele, a former Katy ISD student who identifies as a transgender male, described the most harmful part of the policy as the “outing” or revealing students’ identities to their parents who may not be accepting or aware of their child’s situation.

    Onambele noted that if the policy had been in place while he was a student, it would’ve made him “less open,” and being referred to as a girl would’ve made him “super uncomfortable.” He added that not feeling like he had anyone to talk to would’ve harmed his development.

    “It seems like such a small difference, but in reality, it would’ve affected my life if I didn’t have those few teachers who were allowed to ask me, ‘What are your pronouns? ‘What is your name,’ Without spreading my business,” Onambele said.

    Under the policy, employees are prohibited from asking for students’ pronouns and discussing “gender fluidity” or teaching such topics. Students are also required to use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their sex assigned at birth.

    click to enlarge

    Many LGBTQ rights advocates who have spoken out against the policy warn trustees of assuming all parents are supportive their kids’ choices.

    Photo by Faith Bugenhagen

    Basil Chen, a senior and president of the gender and sexuality alliance at Jordan High School, said many transgender friends stopped introducing their names to their new teachers due to fear they won’t accept them.

    Chen’s friends have what Chen described as an “it is what is” attitude toward not being able to identify the way they want to.

    “We tend to joke about it being a ‘Texas’ thing, probably just to feel better about it,” Chen wrote to the Houston Press via text. “I’ve heard people talk about how much it hurts to be referred to by the wrong name, but ultimately there’s not much we can do about it since we’re not the ones in power and safety is always the top priority.”

    Chen said it is discouraging to see participation dwindle at GASA meetings because students fear being seen attending them. Last year, the group had roughly 90 members, only about 10 of whom consistently showed up for meetings after the policy passed.

    The group has not met this school year due to logistical issues with sponsorships. Participation further slowed over the summer, with only one to three students showing up to events. Chen added that when recruiting new people to join, many say something along the lines of “I’d love to join, but my parents will get mad if they find out.”

    The policy has a clause that makes an exception for notification to parents and guardians in cases of “suspected abuse,” but it does not specify the guidelines for making this distinction.

    One staff member per campus is responsible for processing and sending the notifications. Burton said the implementation of the policy varies across the district and is largely contingent on a campus’s LGBTQ-friendliness.

    However, Burton indicated that he heard from peers that teachers felt emboldened to purposely address students using their “deadname” or incorrect pronouns when the policy first passed.

    Burton referred to one incident in which a student arrived at class following the board’s vote to adopt the measure and was told by an instructor that they would be “going back to” using the student’s deadname. The student left the room and subsequently dropped out of the district.

    Burton hasn’t heard of many more instances like these. He echoed Chen’s sentiments, saying there is likely a direct correlation between this and students concealing their identities to protect themselves.

    “Other than the outing of students — which is bad on its own — I think the precedent it creates that you cannot be safe being yourself in the classroom is doing a lot of damage to the newer students,” Burton said.

    In a statement to the Houston Press, Samuels expressed concern for the 36 students affected by these notifications. 

    “This 36 is not only an abstract number but 36 students’ livelihoods. Each of these parental notifications holds a potentially heartbreaking story not foreign to domestic violence or suicide ideation. Forcibly outing a student places them in harm’s way and neglects their plea for support when courageously navigating this journey to loving themselves. Every transgender student deserves the same dignity and respect that is afforded to peers. We deserve agency and confidentiality to come out when ready, and Katy ISD has cost 36 students their livelihoods.”

    Faith Bugenhagen

    Source link

  • Conroe ISD Trustees Table Discussions About A Potentially Copycat Gender Identity Policy

    Conroe ISD Trustees Table Discussions About A Potentially Copycat Gender Identity Policy

    At Tuesday’s board meeting, Conroe ISD trustees declined to consider drafting a policy that would resemble a controversial gender identity measure in Katy ISD that is undergoing federal investigation.

    Trustee Misty Odenweller proposed that the board write its version of this policy to dictate what bathroom facilities students could use. Notably, not allowing LGBTQ+ students to use restrooms that align with their gender identity.

    Taking a page out of Katy ISD’s playbook, Odenweller added that she wanted the measure to implement the requirement that parents be notified if their children ask to go by new or different pronouns and determine whether teachers could opt not to use a student’s requested pronouns.

    After several minutes of discussion, board president Skeeter Hubert questioned why the board could not hold off on the matter until the pending federal investigation into Katy ISD’s policy reached a resolution.

    “This particular item is under investigation. I think that our district does a fantastic job with addressing this on a case-by-case scenario,” Hubert said. “I don’t know that we need to entertain a policy or procedure that’s going to, as [Trustee] Datren Williams was saying, alienate a group of people.”

    Sumya Paruchuri, a junior at The Woodlands High School who identifies as gender-nonconforming, joined the roughly dozen public speakers voicing their opposition to the policy on Tuesday evening.

    “The policy that the board would like to pass under the guise of student welfare puts an end to any sense of a safe environment for many students like myself,” Paruchuri said. “[It] would be subjecting an already at-risk population to potential abuse, abandonment and detrimental mental health effects.”

    “You can – don’t – care about a word that I said, but you should care about what the government has to say,” Paruchuri added. “This policy violates multiple federal laws under several branches of the government. Students’ lives, our lives — my life — are not policies played in a political chess game.”

    click to enlarge

    Sumya Paruchuri said they couldn’t imagine how students who’d be outed against their will would feel.

    Photo by Faith Bugenhagen

    Paruchuri noted that within the past year, 46 percent of trans and nonbinary youth reported seriously considering or attempting suicide — more than double the 22 percent reported by all youth.

    Ben Miftode, a fellow CISD student, broke down in tears before the board when reflecting on their coming out experience, “I’m not standing here, asking you to move mountains or stand up and fight for something you may not understand.”

    “I’m simply asking, are you an adult I can trust?” Miftode said.

    In a separate conversation with the Houston Press, Paruchuri said several of their friends wanted to speak on the possible policy. When they learned the meeting would be livestreamed online, they chose not to because they feared their parents would view their public comments.

    “I don’t think people who are advocating for the policy really understand its effects,” Paruchuri added. “Passing policies like this sets a standard of what’s okay and what’s not okay.”

    A handful of attendees — mostly wearing red — were in favor of the board drafting a policy saying it would prevent children from using different pronouns secretly and protect them from what they referred to as the indoctrination of transgender ideology.

    “Y’all are at a junction, a Pandora’s Box, okay? This doesn’t stop with a few kids deciding to be transgender. It will go into sports,” Kendrick said. “My niece had a girl in her high school who wanted to be a cat. Well, they had to put a litter box in the female bathroom. This is at the door. Remain strong CISD board.”

    The crowd of those against the policy erupted after Kendrick’s comments. Several muttered, “That did not happen,” and shook their heads or rolled their eyes in response to Kendrick’s claim.

    click to enlarge

    Alex Harris, one of the registered public speakers, carried a sign in support of such a policy.

    Photo by Faith Bugenhagen

    While discussing what prompted Odenweller to request that a policy be drafted, Trustee Stacey Chase requested specific examples of issues or incidents the district faced that such a measure would manage.

    Trustee Melissa Dungan said an instructor at one elementary school handed out a third type of bathroom pass labeled “other,” and one teacher had high school students fill out a questionnaire that allowed them to select which pronouns they identified with.

    Dungan also pointed out that a handful of instructors had signature blocks with pronouns other than he or she listed. Chase said that if an administrator handled the situation in every instance and it was resolved — as Dungan indicated — she didn’t see the problem.

    “We don’t just make a point to make a point. It’s not worth anyone’s time to create things just to create things,” Chase said. “We don’t have to have a crystal ball to see where this leads. We can look right across the street to Katy ISD and see where it led them.”

    Williams echoed Chase’s sentiment, describing the type of policy Odenweller wanted drafted as taking a “bully-like approach.”

    “First of all, we need to stop beating around the bush. We keep picking on the same group of folks, right?” Williams said. “Our expectation here is not to help students. It’s to hurt them. That’s not — I’m actually flabbergasted we’re having this discussion right now.”

    Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, a student advocacy group, filed the initial complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against Katy ISD’s policy, stating that implementing the measure discriminates against students and goes against Title IX protections.

    According to reports, staff have outed over 19 Katy ISD students since the district enacted the policy. The office opened an investigation into the matter last week.

    Before Tuesday’s meeting, the student advocacy organization and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sent a letter to Conroe ISD’s board and superintendent, Dr. Curtis Null.

    The letter warned the district that passing the copycat policy would violate federal law and open the district up to face legal complaints or federal investigation. It urged trustees to reject the measure and indicated that a school board’s policies cannot reject or supersede federal law.

    The organizations pointed out that Title IX’s nondiscrimination mandate protects LGBTQ+ students and called the district out for the harm that restricting bathroom usage that corresponds with a student’s gender identity, rejecting the usage of a student’s requested pronouns and cutting out LGBTQ+ content from books and instruction would cause.

    In a conversation with the Houston Press, Chloe Kempf, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas, said the organization was heartened by the board’s tabling of discussion about a potential policy. 

    “The policy itself would’ve been really disastrous for LGBTQ+ students in the district,” Kempf said. “Not only would a policy like that be unlawful, but it would cause a lot of harm and open up the doors to a lot of bullying and harassment against Conroe ISD students.”

    “Even discussing having that policy on the table can be harmful,” she added. “It sends a message to students that the most powerful people in their school district — or at least some of them — believe that they should not be welcomed in the district or that there’s something shameful about their identity.”

    According to Kempf, similar policies popping up in other districts are part of a broader campaign by Texas politicians at every level, from school boards up to the statehouse, to try to exclude transgender and nonbinary people from public life.

    Faith Bugenhagen

    Source link

  • Shoes Are Finally Getting More Inclusive

    Shoes Are Finally Getting More Inclusive

    You won’t find a pair of Syro boots with a heel smaller than five inches. Some styles, like the silver-sequin Kitten Disco — a fabulously glittery, ankle-high specimen complete with wrap-around fringe — even clock in at six. The appropriately named shoe is perfect for the grooviest nightclub in town, or, according to Co-Founder Shaobo Han, any ol’ errand.

    “Syro shoes are meant to be worn walking down the aisles of the local grocery store,” says Han. “We aim to normalize feminine expression for our queer customers. Off-stage, beyond the runway, onto the streets — that’s where you’ll find us. That’s the real deal.”

    Maura Brannigan

    Source link