Arizona’s Democratic Governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed a bill that would have barred schools from referring to transgender students by names or pronouns matching their gender identity.
Under the bill, employees or independent contractors of a school district or charter school would be prohibited from knowingly calling a student under the age of 18 by a pronoun other than the one matching their assigned sex at birth, reports the Associated Press.
School staff would also be prevented from referring to the student by any name besides the first or middle name listed on their school records, although nicknames rooted in a student’s given name would be acceptable.
Opponents of the bill argued that students should have the freedom to be referred to by whatever names or pronouns they wish, since they all enjoy a right to freedom of expression.
Furthermore, opponents argue that just because a student adopts pronouns that do not match their assigned sex at birth does not mean they are being fast-tracked for surgical interventions.
For example, a student who identifies as nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns may not experience gender dysphoria to the point where they would seek to medically transition; rather, they may just want to have their identity respected.
State Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), the bill’s sponsor, previously claimed the bill was about making sure parents were aware that their child wanted to identify by another name or pronoun.
“Parents have a right to know if their children are in psychological turmoil,” Kavanagh said, noting that youth may feel confused, depressed, anxious, or suicidal due to their gender dysphoria, and may require mental health care to better deal with those problems.
“Parents can’t get their children the counseling or therapy needed if their school is hiding this information from them.”
But, as the Arizona Capitol Times notes, nothing in the legislation would have actually required teachers or schools to report a child’s dysphoria to parents. Rather, it simply would have barred teachers from referring to students with their preferred names or pronouns, and teachers with personal religious or moral beliefs or convictions would be empowered to refuse student requests.
Only if a teacher agreed to a student’s request was there a requirement to notify a parent and get consent, just as they would for any other issue, such as going on a field trip or allowing their children to take an aspirin at school.
Kavanagh also argued that his legislation contained an exception allowing teachers to use a student’s preferred pronoun if a parent gave written permission.
But even that provision was flawed, as the legislation would have allowed a teacher to override a parent’s wishes based on the teacher’s “religious or moral convictions.”
Just prior to Republicans voting to approve the measure on a party-line vote, State Rep. Lorena Austin (D-Mesa), who identifies as the first nonbinary, gender-nonconforming state representative, pleaded with her colleagues to consider the bill’s ramifications.
“I can tell you as a young person, if this bill had come through when I was in high school, it would have terrified me,” Austin said during debate on the bill. “I was already terrified of knowing that I would not be accepted in the society as such.”
Kavanagh slammed Hobbs for vetoing the bill earlier this week.
“For the governor to turn a blind eye to what’s happening is reckless and irresponsible. I would expect more from a former social worker,” he said.
But Hobbs denounced the bill as an attack on transgender children.
“Instead of coming up with new ways to target and isolate our children, we should be working together to create an Arizona where everyone has the freedom to be who they are without fear of harassment or judgment,” she said in a statement.
Hobbs also thanked Austin for “telling their story and speaking their truth” during debate on the bill, and sought to re-emphasize Austin’s words to young people that “you have every right to be who you are.” Hobbs added, “I will veto every bill that aims to attack and harm children.”
Kavanagh also sponsored another bill, which passed along party lines, requiring schools to create “reasonable accommodations” — often a single-user or unisex restroom, such as the kind that Virginia student Gavin Grimm was forced to use by his school system — for any student who refuses to use restrooms matching their assigned sex at birth.
But despite the bill’s passage, the Senate GOP leadership has not yet sent it to Hobbs, who is expected to veto it.
After removing all references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website earlier this year, the National Park Service has now scrubbed mentions of bisexual people as well.
As first reported by transgender journalist Erin Reed on her Erin in the Morning Substack, the change occurred on July 10, when the homepage was updated to read, "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living authentically as a gay or lesbian person was illegal."
Subsequent pages, including the site's "History and Culture" section, were also altered to remove broader LGBTQ references. One now reads: "Stonewall was a milestone for gay and lesbian civil rights," whereas it previously noted that living "openly as a member of the Stonewall comunity was a violation of law."
Special education teacher River Chunnui sued after being accused of "sexualizing children" and doxxed by school board members over their gender identity.
An Arizona school district has settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by a transgender, nonbinary teacher who alleged that two school board members led a smear campaign against them based on their gender identity.
The teacher, River Chunnui, alleged they were targeted and harassed because of their gender identity. Chunnui, who had worked as a special education teacher in the Peoria Unified School District since 2018, said the retaliation began after they sent an email to colleagues at Desert Harbor Elementary School on March 31, 2022.
A transgender asylum seeker from Mexico, identified in court filings as O.J.M., has been released after spending 43 days in immigration detention. She was arrested in early June, just after attending an asylum hearing at the Portland Immigration Court, and was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
O.J.M. is one of many asylum seekers arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration -- a policy critics argue subverts due process. In one related case, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum was deported and imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in El Salvador after being wrongly accused of gang affiliation. He has since been released.
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