NASHVILLE, Tenn.— An LGBTQ advocacy group, the Tennessee Equality Project, says that a new law in Tennessee that requires teachers to tell parents if a student wants to be recognized as a gender other than the one they were given at birth is causing confusion and controversy all over the state.
The head of TEP, Chris Sanders, said, “I think we’re seeing chaos in some school districts and a smoother implementation in other districts.”
If a student asks to use a different gender identity at school, the law says that teachers and other school staff have to tell the principal and parents.
Law opponents are afraid that it will force teachers to “out” kids who might not want to tell their parents about this information.
Sanders said, “If we don’t tell the students, we’re setting a trap.” “If they tell a teacher and don’t know that the teacher will tell the parents, and the parents don’t support them, that student could face abuse, punishment, getting kicked out, and other bad things.”
So, the Equality Project wants parents, teachers, school staff, and students to share their experiences with the law so that they can learn more about how it is being used and push for schools to be clear about what they need to do.
Sanders said that they have heard a lot of news from people in Middle and East Tennessee but not much from people in West Tennessee.
“Some people talk to their students about the law, either in writing, in class, or at the start of the day.” Many people are silent about the new law, and some are even told not to say anything about it, he said.
Fans of the rule say that parents should be able to see what their children are doing at school.
“Do we let them get hurt?” Do we let them get grades? Do we let us hide the fact that they did bad things? In our school system, what do we hide from our parents right now? In a discussion over the bill, Rep. Greg Martin (R-Hamilton County) said, “I think the answer is not much, if any, that we would keep from parents.”
People all over the state are already upset about the rule.
At a recent meeting of the Johnson County Schools board, parents were angry that a teacher had told kids about the law in class. When a student asked, “Which are they/them?” the teacher used their pronouns, which made the reaction even worse.
During the meeting, one parent said, “She thought she was supposed to talk about this law with her class.” During the school year, the Tennessee Equality Project will continue to keep an eye on how the law is being followed.
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