Conservatives Blast Education Policy on Transgender Discrimination
Friday, November 19, 2010
Local conservatives are taking issue with a proposed Rhode Island Department of Education policy that bars discrimination and bullying based on “gender identity.”
The new policy would expand upon an existing prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It would be binding on the Rhode Island Department of Education, which will also push—but not formally mandate—that local school districts adopt it.
State Rep. Joe Trillo, the House deputy minority leader, criticized RIDE for adding sexual identity to its anti-discrimination policy. “If you’re going to make a list include freckles, eyeglasses, and somebody that limps and somebody that’s in a wheelchair and somebody that has an accent,” said Trillo, R-Warwick. “Where does it stop?”
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A leading social conservative also found fault with the policy. Chris Plante, the executive director of the state chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, told GoLocalProv that the Department of Education and local school districts should stick to a blanket ban on discrimination and bullying without mentioned specific groups. “No child should be bullied,” Plante told GoLocalProv. “Every child should feel safe at school.”
Singling out certain groups in an anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policy gives them extra protection, according to Plante. “All of the sudden, we are conferring on them more rights—special rights,” he said.
Education commissioner Deborah Gist (pictured below right) told GoLocalProv yesterday that Rhode Island has always been a leader in protecting schoolchildren from gender-based discrimination. In the early 2000s, for example, the state added sexual orientation to its anti-bullying law, according to a spokesman for Gist.
Non-straight youth face greater challenges
Gist said a recent state survey showed a “dramatic difference” between the challenges that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth face and what straight students have to deal with. For example, 22 percent of non-straight youth have attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 6 percent of heterosexual students, according to a November 2010 survey of at-risk youth behaviors produced by RIDE. Likewise, 25 percent of gay youth have been bullied while only 16 percent of other students have.
“It’s clear that we have to do a much better job of making these students feel welcome and safe in our school communities,” Gist told GoLocalProv. “It is a value we have that we should be creating an environment that is respectful to everyone.”
Local advocates for gay youth defended the policy and its specific mention of gender identity. “If bullies are singling out certain groups, which they do, then I think the law should address that,” said James Robinson, executive director of Youth Pride, a Providence-based drop-in center for teens and young adults dealing with sexuality and gender.
He said the mere mention of “gender identity” in school anti-discrimination policies could help gay, lesbian, and transgender youth feel safer in schools.
Asked to respond to critics of the new policy, Robinson responded: “The comments probably come from people who haven’t had experience or haven’t known someone who has gone through this.”
But for Plante, the issue is personal as well. His elementary school-age son has a medical condition that stunts his growth—causing him to lag three years behind the rest of his peers. “I certainly want my son to have these same protections as every other child,” Plante said. “He gets bullied. He gets picked on. Why can’t my son have these same rights?”
Teachers need training on gender identity
Myra Shays, president of the Providence chapter of Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, also said the new language on “gender identity” would be a “very good addition” to RIDE’s policy on discrimination. “Transgender in particular is a very hard thing for people to understand,” Shays said. “Even the family—if they’re loving—still may have a hard time understanding and accepting.”
Shays said the new policy would become the basis for training teachers to recognize and prevent bullying students over gender identity. “The teachers need to be trained on bullying. They need to be told that even if they don’t believe homosexuality or transgender is right—doesn’t agree with their religion—they are free to think what they want. They are not free to let kids under their supervision be bullied, harassed, and attacked.”
Excerpts from the Proposed Policy
Below is a draft of revisions the Board of Regents may make to its policy on sexual discrimination. The board may also add a reference to gender expression. The board will revisit the proposed policy at its next meeting on Dec. 2. In the below draft, the new language is in bold.
…Certain students, because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, have been subject to discrimination through abuse, harassment, bullying, or exclusion from full participation in educational activities. These conditions undermine the goals of Civil Rights activities in education; i.e., to remove barriers, promote nondiscrimination and support the provision of equal educational opportunities. The Board also recognizes that all students, without exception, have the right to come to school and feel safe.
Therefore, it is the Policy of the Board of Regents that no student shall be excluded from, discriminated against, or harassed in any educational program, activity or facility in a public school on account of sexual orientation, gender identity or perception of same. The policy shall apply to admissions, guidance, recreational and extra-curricular activities as well as all public educational programs and activities.
Each local school district is urged to review programs, services and activities to assure that such offerings are conducted in a manner that is free of inadvertent or intentional bias. Each local school district is required by regulation and law to address harassment and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity through the development and enforcement of appropriate student and staff behavior and disciplinary policies…
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