Texas School District Adopts Antigay, Anti-Trans Policies
A school district in northern Texas has adopted a policy restricting the discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity, and race in classrooms.Only 72 hours before the Monday board vote, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District — located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — released a 36-page document of proposed policies to be implemented for the upcoming school year, the Texas Observer reports.
The policies prohibit teachers from discussing “gender fluidity” with students and restrict other topics, such as banning talk of sexual orientation and gender identity until after fifth grade.They also allow teachers to refuse to use students' preferred pronouns, even if their parents approve, and bar trans students from using the multi-occupancy restrooms and changing rooms consistent with their gender identity, alhough schools could make other accommodations, according to The Dallas Morning News.Among the proposed policies are restrictions on which books to allow in classrooms and libraries, banning anything that contains “inappropriate material.” What the board deems “inappropriate material” is vague, with the document defining it as “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for minors.”The section on gender fluidity reads, “For purposes of this policy, ‘Gender Fluidity’ means any theory or ideology that (1) espouses the view that biological sex is merely a social construct, (2) espouses the view that it is possible for a person to be any gender or none (i.e.
