by Tomas Vera
Past Chair, Placer County Democratic Central Committee
I attended a recent meeting of the Placer Hills Union School District. The agenda included an item titled “Board Requested time to discuss AB1314, HR 1585.” A quick look revealed that these bills seek to force teachers and counselors to inform parents if their student exhibits any signs of identifying with anything other than their “gender assigned at birth.” AKA forced outing of students by school staff.
There were approximately eight people who spoke against the district supporting these bills. These speakers included community members such as myself, a high school student, and several teachers and counselors who work for the district. There were no speakers in support of these bills.
Tired tropes
The board member who spoke in support of these bills, Ray Lawrence, brought out some tired tropes in support of these bills. He insisted that parents should have access to everything in the student's official file (they already do). The fact that other board members cited exact language negating the need for these bills did not dissuade Lawrence as he continued to insist that the district consider supporting these bills.
These bills conjure up the extremely unlikely scenario of an LGBTQ student being “out and proud” at school, while their parents are unaware of their LGBTQ status. These bills then use this extremely unlikely scenario to regulate events that DO happen: students seeking advice from teachers and counselors. These bills would force teachers and counselors to log these requests for advice in the student’s official file and to report these meetings to the parents within three days.
The most motivational moment for me at this meeting was hearing one teacher describe scenarios in which she counseled students and finished by saying, through tears, “please don’t make me do this.”
“Parents are not the enemy”
Trustee Lawrence’s insistence that parents be given the benefit of the doubt “until we hear otherwise” and that “parents are not the enemy” has been shown to be the wrong course of action in too many cases. It takes moments to perform a Google search for the names of students who have been killed by their parents, or other people in their lives, for the mere possibility of being LGBTQ. Some as young as ten years old.
Poorly written legislation
These bills are poorly written and will never be signed into law. The language in these bills confuse and conflate the terms “gender” and “sex” (they do NOT refer to the same thing). The terms are used interchangeably (and incorrectly) in the bills which leads to the very real possibility that they will be challenged in court if enacted (they won’t be).
It is very unlikely that the California Assembly will pass AB1314. It is unlikely that the US Senate will pass HR1585. Neither Governor Newsom nor President Biden are likely to sign these bills.
These actions violate the concept of right-to-privacy and districts adopting these policies will be sued by the State of California costing the districts dollars better spent on students’ needs and school supplies.
Why bother?
With this background, why propose supporting these bills?
There are cultures around the world today that recognize more than two genders. It is a fallacy to think that Americans are incapable of dealing with this concept. Yet, this legislation has been proposed.
These bills serve to do little else than stir the emotions of extreme conservatives and encourage them to donate to candidates and causes in line with their extreme pseudo-Christian beliefs. In plain language: It’s a grift.
Do the right thing
We must all be willing to stand in support of students as they navigate what is very often a troubling and confusing time in their lives. We must continue to attend school board meetings and be willing to offer testimony in support of a student’s right to privacy. Everyone must be willing to do the right thing now, and always.