A Texas school district banned students from using bathrooms and pronouns that differs from their biological sex after several parent groups pushed for these new policies.
The conservative group Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF), pushed the school board to enact new policies that state teachers and staff "shall not promote, encourage, or require the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with a student’s or other person’s biological sex." It also makes clear that students need to use the bathroom and locker room that "corresponds to their gender assigned at birth."
"Texas members of Citizens Defending Freedom, a non-profit that helps American citizens defend their faith and freedom, announced Wednesday that thanks to their efforts along with True Texas Project and community members, a school district in Tarrant County has banned transgender bathrooms and the usage of pronouns that do not align with biological sex," the CDF reported on its website.
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The organization went on to quote Tarrant County CDF Executive Director Kenya Alu stating that Keller Independent School District (ISD) employees "will not promote or require the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with an individual's biological sex as it appears on the individual's birth certificate."
The ISD school board voted to enact the policies in a 5-0 vote on June 28, with one member abstaining and another not present.
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The school district serves approximately 34,000 students, and while many like ISD’s board president Charles Randklev have phrased these kind of measures as one that helps "lay the groundwork for protecting kids and educators," others have condemned it as discriminatory.
The ACLU of Texas said the policies will harm LGBTQ students.
"NEW: @KellerISD passed two discriminatory policies that will harm LGBTQIA+ students, ignoring community opposition and our legal warnings," it wrote in a tweet. "These political attacks against kids are cruel and unlawful — and they create a hostile school climate for all."
The local ACLU chapter wrote in a letter that referring to a non-binary or transgender child by their biological sex and their name given at birth "not only violates the law but can cause immense and irreparable trauma and harm and spur bullying and harassment from other students."
