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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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