As far as legislation goes, Senate File 80 is pretty clear cut and to the point. Introduced by Republican Sen. Amy Sinclair, the bill bolsters parental rights and involvement in education.
If a student in a school district will be asked by a school employee or in a school communication to identify the pronoun by which the student prefers to be called — or is asked to take a survey on pronoun preference — the district shall provide written notification of such action to the parent or guardian of the student at least one week before such action occurs.
After the identification or survey has happened, the district shall provide the student’s identification or survey response to the student’s parent or guardian upon request.
Note, “upon request.” Meaning if the parents request to see the student’s response, they should be able to.
The crazy part of this, to most Iowans, is that schools would ask students about their “preferred pronoun.”
But to the GLBT Youth In Iowa Schools Task Force (Iowa “Safe Schools”), it’s dangerous.
“SF 80 would require parental notification for correct pronoun usage in schools, outing thousands of trans youth and putting their lives in danger,” GLBT Youth In Iowa Schools Task Force tweeted out on Saturday.
Democrat State Sen. Sarah Trone-Garriott called it a “mean-spirited and harmful bill.”
Let’s just slow down for a minute.
Let’s rewind and realize what the bill does.
If the school district will ask a student to identify what pronoun they prefer, the district must notify the parents and, if the parents want to know the student’s response, the school shall provide it.
How is this controversial?
The child belongs to the parent. Period.
This same group that wants to make it illegal for parents to take their child to a licensed professional to talk through the confusion when it comes to sexuality or gender identity (unless the professional affirms the confusion) also wants to keep it legal for schools to hide something this consequential from a kid’s mom and dad.
That’s effed up. By all accounts.
First, saying it would out “thousands” of trans youth here in Iowa I think is a bit of a stretch. Second, suggesting it would put their lives in danger is again, another stretch.
Third, children belong the parents.
Parents are trusting a school to provide an education for their child, not conceal deeply concerning secrets.
Think about where the heck we are as a society folks that this is a divisive issue. That it’s a partisan issue. That it’s even a thing.
Think about it.
There are people serving in the legislature who think a mom and a dad do not have the right to know if their child is going by an opposite pronoun in school.
They actually think in this scenario it is the parent who is the problem.
And look, you may wonder why this is necessary. Well, read this piece about the Iowa City School District.
This may be the most important piece of legislation introduced at the Capitol this year. And the most common-sense piece of legislation.
You may think this is a no-brainer for Republicans in the Iowa legislature to pass. But the other side is working hard to derail it.
So it is imperative that you reach out to Republican legislators and let them know you support this piece of legislation and all efforts to embolden parents when it comes to their children.
The email addresses are as follows:
Senators: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Representatives: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
