School cafeterias are not segregated by gender or sexuality in any state in the union. School sports teams, restrooms and locker rooms, maybe, but the lunch line? No. Anyone who qualifies for a federally funded tray of chicken nuggets and carrot sticks can get one, regardless of pronouns or preferences.
Nearly 30 million children receive a free or low-cost school lunch.
So it seems odd to me that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared that there will be no free lunch for low-income students unless their schools comply with federal policy on transgender and gay students. The new rule will “combat discrimination against LGBTQI+ students” and ensure equity in access to nutrition, the press release announced.
Billions of dollars in federal funding is at stake, reports Elizabeth Troutman in the Washington Free Beacon.
Religious schools that participate in the lunch program (which often includes breakfast) will be allowed to apply for waivers. All other schools must comply or close cafeterias.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a Republican, said she’ll sue if schools lose nutrition funding for refusing to allow “biological males . . . in girls’ bathrooms and sports.”
It may not. The Department of Education has delayed releasing new Title IX protections that are expected to require schools to let transgender students access sex-segregated spaces, writes Alex Nester.
“The administration may be looking at the polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly do not support this radical redefinition of a law meant to provide basic civil rights protections to women and girls in educational institutions,” Independent Women’s Forum senior policy analyst Inez Stepman told the Free Beacon. “This delay is an attempt to evade political responsibility for their unpopular policies.”
I think the tide has turned against transgenderism, thanks in part to swimmer Lia Thomas.
Trying to force schools to change policies by defunding breakfasts and lunches for low-income students — in the name of equity! — would be politically suicidal. I don’t think it will happen.