'Don't say trans': Texas school board's new policies spark an outcry

Source: Washington Post

‘Don’t say trans’: Texas school board’s new policies spark an outcry

The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District policies include a total ban on all classroom discussion of ‘gender fluidity’

By Anne Branigin
August 24, 2022 at 12:44 p.m. EDT

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, after a “marathon” school board session featuring four hours of debate from parents, students and community members, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in North Texas narrowly passed a sweeping set of policies that includes a total ban on all classroom discussion of “gender fluidity.”

The new rules also impose more limits on how race, gender and sexuality is taught; restrict which bathrooms transgender youths can use; and give greater power to the school board to determine which books are available in school libraries.

Last year, state lawmakers passed a law limiting how race, slavery and history are taught in public schools. The district made national headlines then, too, after a Black principal was put on leave after being accused of teaching critical race theory.

The new rules — which passed in a 4-3 vote — are indicative of how school boards have become the “epicenter” of efforts to push anti-inclusive policies, LGBTQ and civil rights advocates say. GCISD is among a “cluster” of districts moving to further restrict education in this way, according to Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/24/texas-school-dont-say-trans/

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