Laws enacted in at least 10 states prohibit or restrict students from using pronouns or names that don’t match their sex assigned at birth.
Indiana is among at least 10 states that have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting students from using pronouns or names that don’t match their sex assigned at birth, a restriction that opponents say further marginalizes transgender and nonbinary students. Most of the laws were enacted this year and are part of a historic wave of new restrictions on transgender youth approved by Republican states.
The measures are creating fear for transgender students and sowing confusion for teachers on how to comply but still offer a welcoming environment for everyone in their classes.
That's because the party that worships their ideal of free speech is the same one attacking these children. After all, if Republicans didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all.
Its sorta funny because its the only thing the two extremes can agree on. There are people who want to enforce individuals choice pronouns and want to enforce not using the individuals choice pronouns without taking the speakers rights to speak however they are going to.
We're in Indiana. My daughter is in middle school. Her best friend is a trans boy. Even with supportive parents, the school calls him 'she' and deadnames him. It's so disgusting. My daughter said every time they used his deadname, she would get confused about who they were talking about.
Yeah, and her friend is really psychologically messed up as it is in a lot of ways. Being trans in middle school is, I'm sure, hard enough just dealing with other kids. And the school he's in has a real bullying problem. We pulled my daughter out and put her in online school because she was being bullied so much without the administration acting on it even though we pleaded with them. If the administration won't protect my cis daughter, I don't even want to know their reaction to her friend.
Congratulations to those lawmakers, who have clearly solved every other problem affecting their district so that they have time to police people's names.
Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about how much these kids will suffer. Fucking asshole bigot lawmakers. Hurting others who are different just for the sake of it.
One of my kid's best friends came out as trans about the same age as in the above
Parents don't seem to be supporting him. I worry. I've known him (and family) since he was a baby.
I don't know if it's because of their religion or just discomfort with the change. But I think they will do right in the end because they're not without empathy.
Thankfully, the city and school district is inclusive and supportive because we aren't run by backwards-thinking, cruel, oppressive assholes. So the kid stands a chance and is doing ok for now, has friends, etc.
We've tried to make it clear that we are here for him over the years. They are almost like family to us. Can't imagine what it would be like to feel like everything is against who you are inside at that critical age.
As rough as some of the teen years were for me for various reasons, being actively persecuted, having authorities suppress my identity, and dealing with gender dysphoria on top of it would, I imagine, take an awful lot of fortitude to survive.
I want to ^^^metaphorically slap these people in the face.
Remember when they were freaking out about how Canadian bill C-16 was the end of free speech or something because it defined constant and deliberate misgendering from institutional workers as criminal harassment, I bet they think restricting students from using someone's preferred pronouns is a good thing because it fiGHtS tRAnSGeDeRIsM.
Never forget when they said the quiet part out loud at CPAC: "transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely." He didn't stutter. And later the bastard claimed he didn't mean trans people because he used the "-ism." Infuriating.
Yeah they call it "compelled speech" but they don't get it. They can say whatever the heck they want on their own time, the only consequence being is that trans people and those who understand trans people might not like them very much. You already aren't allowed to call a co-worker or customer something like "fat", "ugly" or "mentally ill" for example in a work senario without being remanded to HR because we as a society realize the harm it does to the people who that is levied against. You have to work to live so being forced to put up with that shit or take the financial hit of needing to find other potentially less lucrative ways to support yourself just because someone isn't empathetic to your circumstances has inspired legal protections. It's the exact same principle!
The "Freedom of Speech" crowd is usually the most callous anti-social bunch I have to work with. Acting like you are going to burst into flames if you have to hold your tongue when you are on the clock or in a meeting with rules of decorum is like dealing with a toddler who refuses to put on their shoes when leaving the house.
I was thinking this exactly. I remember Jordan Peterson saying he would not correctly refer to someone if "he was forced to". The obvious part being that he wouldn't do it if he wasn't forced to either. And here are more conservatives forcing speech and patting themselves on the back for it.
These same people were more than happy to politicize teen suicide when trying to end mask mandates and COVID restrictions. Suddenly it's not an important issue to them anymore.