Please read: "The Christian Right Wants to Force Teachers to Out Trans Kids." Under the guise of “parental rights,” figures like Sonja Shaw want to draft educators into their war against trans students. Melissa Gira Grant. The New Republic. November 30, 2023.
Gira Grant writes:
"Shaw is, whether she claims it or not, in sync with a much larger national effort to rebrand the forced outing of trans kids as “parental rights.” And this effort has the weight of major conservative think tanks behind it. Nearly 90 bills forcing teachers to monitor students’ gender expression—including dress, pronouns, and names—and report trans and gender-nonconforming students to parents were introduced in state legislatures across the country in 2022, according to PEN America’s Index of Educational Intimidation Bills. Five states have adopted these polices into law: North Dakota, Iowa, Alabama, North Carolina, and Indiana. What we are seeing in places like Chino Valley reflects a coordinated national plan, pushing laws and policies that would penalize educators who don’t go along — inverting their roles as mandatory reporters and as potential resources for students facing harassment, neglect, and abuse at home."
In Virginia, "the face of the bill was Michele Blair," whose grandchild was assigned female at birth and has used masculine pronouns and a chosen first name. "Blair also says her grandchild was sex trafficked, and appears to believe that this never would have happened if the school had informed her that her grandchild was trans."
"Promoting the bill named for her grandchild, Blair has said, 'I am not here to tell you how to raise your kids — I’m here to tell you we should not be placing adult decisions on children, especially not behind a parent’s back.' She also claimed that children are now growing up in 'a world where sex traffickers are lurking on every cellphone just waiting to trick your child into their sick game,' and that '[we] must save our children before it’s too late,' neatly combining two moral panics."
Please reflect on the possible consequences:
"Perhaps this is exactly the point: Imagine a trans student who had faced abuse from a parent after trying to come out to them, who then tried to turn to a teacher or school counselor for help."
Project 2025 is organized by the Heritage Foundation. The project's director, Paul Dans, describes the agenda as "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army—aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state."
"Project 2025’s Education directives include statements such as: 'Federal lawmakers should not allow public school employees to keep secrets about a child from that child’s parents.' The model policy includes two provisions that forbid school employees from using any name 'other than the name listed on a student's birth certificate' or a pronoun that is 'different from that student’s biological sex ... without the written permission of a student’s parents or guardians.'"
Got that? No nicknames without parental consent.
See also: Unveiling the authoritarian roadmap: The Heritage Foundation blueprint for Trump to politicize the administrative state will also undermine democracy. Don Moynihan. May 2, 2023.
Here's what those guys look like (Bluesky).
(Bluesky)
See also my article: "Transphobia, the Interrupting Cow". It's a 12-minute read on Medium. To read it, buy a paid membership on the platform.
"There’s no such thing as ‘parents’ rights’," Charlotte Dalwood, Rabble.ca, January 29, 2024
Image of elf ornament from Wikimedia Commons. Taken by Jelene Morris. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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