- 11 states, including Indiana, restrict students from using pronouns inconsistent with their assigned sex. LGBTQ lobby groups oppose the regulations citing concerns for transgender and nonbinary students
- . Legislators assert that the laws are designed to protect the rights of parents.
Indiana is among at least 10 states that have enacted laws restricting students from using pronouns or names inconsistent with their assigned sex at birth. Opposers of the legislation argue that such restrictions are problematic for transgender and nonbinary students and will marginalise them. The majority of these laws, forming part of a historic wave of constraints on transgender youth, were enacted this year by Republican-led states.
Proponents of these laws contend that parents should have a voice in decisions involving their children’s use of pronouns or names divergent from their assigned gender. Republican lawmakers state that this is a parental rights issue, aligning it with broader efforts to regulate discussions around gender identity in educational settings and library materials.
In a legal brief filed in a lawsuit stemming from a California school district’s policy, nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general asserted,
“School districts can’t shut a parent out of their child’s decision about their gender identity because the child objects or because the school believes the parent isn’t supportive enough of an immediate gender transition.”
Despite these laws, some teachers who oppose it, have found ways to navigate the restrictions. Indiana, like other states, delegates the specifics to individual school districts.
Additionally, Indiana’s recent parental notification law not only restricts students but also prohibits teachers from offering instruction on human sexuality to students from pre-Kindergarten through the third grade. Similarly, Kentucky’s new law stipulates that teachers and school staff cannot be compelled to use a student’s pronouns if they don’t “conform to the student’s biological sex.”
Jefferson County Schools, Kentucky’s most extensive district with 90,000 students, expressed challenges in adhering to the recently enacted state law. This is due to having previously embraced a policy which allows exceptions for bathroom accommodations for students with gender dysphoria. The policy also had introduced “potential consequences for educators and staff who deliberately and persistently misgender a student”.
The law, which includes other provisions dealing with student bathroom assignment and parental consent, has prompted Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, the state’s highest-profile LGBTQ+ advocacy group, to speak out. Hartman said it allows educators to ignore students’ wishes about pronouns even if their parents have asked the district not to let it happen.
