If Ella wants to be called Elliot or Elliot goes from "he" to "they," teachers in three New Jersey districts are supposed to tell the parents. That's discrimination against transgender students, charges the state, reports Carly Baldwin on Patch.
New Jersey has sued the Middletown, Marlboro and Manalapan districts over new transgender student policies.
In the lawsuit, Attorney General Matt Platkin charges the districts are putting the safety of transgender students at risk by "outing" the minors to their parents. "It threatens physical harm to students, including risking increased suicides; decreases the likelihood students will seek support; and shirks the district’s obligation to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all.
Name and pronoun changes are public: The child is "outing" him, her or their self. Everyone at school knows, but the parents are supposed to be kept in the dark, just in case they don't agree with the latest gender ideology.
At the Middletown board meeting, parents spoke for and against the new policy, writes Baldwin. Several said they wanted to be informed so they could help their children.
One father said:
"I have four boys, and if one of them was thinking about becoming a girl I'd want to know, so I could give them the help they need; so I can support them. If they are telling a teacher in school, I hope the teacher would contact me and say 'Hey, this is what's going on with your kid.' Not so I can abuse them, not for any other reason so I can help them, be there for them. Parents are the most important people in kids' lives. And we want to know what's going on with our kids."
Manalapan's new policy states that for “students in grades Pre-K through 5,” the “responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student’s parents/guardians,” rather than with the student.
The school boards don't want to alienate parents by treating them as default child abusers. The attorney general . . . Well, he's grandstanding.