Questions for Policymakers
Questions for School Boards, et. al., About Transgender Policies
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Regarding the Term “Transgender”
What is a transgender student?
How is a transgender student identified?
Is a transgender student someone who has begun to transition medically? hormonally? socially?
Can someone be labeled "transgender" simply by self-identifying as such?
Who diagnoses a student as transgender? Is it the student, or a teacher, counselor, or other staff
member?
If a student can self-diagnose for gender identity, can a student also self-diagnose other conditions,
such as dyslexia, autism, trans-racial identity, Tourette’s Syndrome, or PTSD?
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Regarding “Gender-Neutral” Bathrooms
What is a gender-neutral bathroom? Is it a room that has had the male/female signs removed? Is it a
single-user bathroom? Is it a bathroom with stall walls floor to ceiling?
How will bathrooms be brought into compliance with gender-neutral status?
What is the budget for bringing bathrooms into compliance with gender-neutral status?
If single-user bathrooms are stigmatizing to transgender students why would they not also be
stigmatizing to non-transgender students? Why is it acceptable to ask a non-transgender student to
use a single-user bathroom if it is NOT acceptable to ask a transgender student to use it?
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Regarding “Gender-Neutral” Dress Code
What is a gender-neutral dress code?
Can girls still wear skirts or dresses? Can boys wear them?
What about for pool-wear for swimming units? If boys are allowed to be bare-chested, will girls also be
allowed (required?) to be bare-chested? Or will both boys and girls be required to cover their
chests?
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Regarding Overnight Accommodations
Who is the final authority on which students room together on overnight trips? Is it the students? The
parents? The school?
Who is liable if something happens to a student who is rooming with students of the opposite sex? If a
girl is assaulted or raped, who will be held responsible for that?
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Regarding Reporting to Parents
If the school has the right to decide what parents know about their children's sexuality or gender, is the
school then responsible for that student's health and well-being?
If a child harms him- or herself, or commits suicide, and it is discovered that the school withheld
information from the child's parents about that child's mental and/or physical health, will the school
be held responsible for that child's illness and/or death?
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Regarding Sports
With respect to sports teams and girls' protected spaces, how does this policy NOT violate Title IX
mandates?
Although legislators are wrestling with whether or not to change "biological sex" to "gender identity",
Title IX still holds that differences exist between the biological sexes. Doesn't this PIP, which allows
biological boys access to girls' spaces and sports teams, violate federal law and the Dillon rule in
this case?
Regarding Pronouns
With respect to pronouns, and given the fact that transgender activists now claim that there are infinite
pronoun options (and in fact, people can invent their own pronouns at will) how will teachers be
expected to remember the preferred pronouns (and all those pronouns' conjugations) for up to 30
different students in each class?
What will be the consequence to the teacher for making an error?
What will be the procedure for ensuring that teachers have clearly received adequate communication
about students' new pronouns?
What recourse will a teacher have if s/he is, for example, first told that a student wants to be called
"they/them/themselves" but at a later date the student changes to "ze/zir/zirin", but does not
inform the teacher of the change?
What if the student claims to have informed the teacher, but the teacher claims not to have been
informed? How will that conflict be resolved?
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Regarding Academic & Demographic Records
If a student can change his or her gender of record at will, can a student also change his or her
ethnic/race status at will? Why or why not?
How will accurate demographic data be maintained if a student changes from one gender to another
mid-year?
What will be the procedure for tracking students across years if names and/or genders are changed?
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Regarding Enforcement of Policies
Who will designate the consequences and/or repercussions against staff or students who fail to comply
with this PIP's mandates?
How will breaches of compliance be identified?
What will be the criteria for determining whether a breach is an accident or an example of harassment,
such as when the wrong pronoun is used?
Who will have the authority to carry out consequences for failure to comply?
What will be the consequences for failure to comply? To students? To staff?
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