Karen England on Clark County school’s transgender regulations — VIDEO

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Signage hangs outside a restroom at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, N.C. Transgender plaintiffs who think the compromise that replaced North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” is still discriminatory are heading to court. A federal judge will hear arguments Monday, June 25, 2018, from lawyers representing Republican legislative leaders who say the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs can’t prove the new law is harming them. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

Individuals listen to options shared on the transgender policies for the Clark County School District at Nevada Department of Education in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Elizabeth Brumley Las Vegas Review-Journal @EliPagePhoto

The transgender regulations proposed by the Clark County School District violate the privacy rights of students. If passed, those regulations will allow teachers to use curriculum that exposes even young students to transgender concepts. School districts also don’t have the right to compel speech. That’s according to Karen England, executive director of Nevada Family Alliance.

“Our daughters and our sons have a right to privacy,” England said while filming Nevada Politics Today. “And they have a right to go into a restroom and have it be private when they are disrobing or unclothing — in the locker room, in the restroom. While gender non-conforming students should be accommodated, it should never be at the expense of the privacy of rest of the students. That’s where the rub comes.”

District trustees are voting on a policy dealing with transgender students on Thursday night, and they’re likely to approve it. Trustees advanced a draft version of the policy two months ago on a 4-3 vote. England expressed concern that this policy includes overnight trips.

“They will not notify you if they’re making your child room — your daughter — room with a biological male,” said England. “No one’s thinking bout the women who have been sexually harassed or violated and the safety concerns that they have being exposed to a biological male. Where else in society do we say it’s OK to disrobe and be naked in the front of the other biological sex?”

There will be changes in the classroom, too, according to England. Part of the policy allows transgender students to demand classroom activities that are “meaningful” to transgender students. “This is really scary, because each teacher — without accountability from the public or the parent — can just bring in any sort of curriculum,” England said.

Another portion of the policy requires staff and students to use a child’s preferred pronoun, even if it conflicts with biological realities.

“The government, which is what are schools are in Nevada, cannot compel speech,” said England. “You cannot make a minor or even an adult call a boy, who’s biologically a boy, a girl. You cannot force me to believe something I don’t believe.”

England noted that a poll conducted by her organization showed that a strong majority of Southern Nevadans opposed these requirements. “Biology is a science, and we are born a boy or a girl,” she said. “The public does not want this. Even as an adult, I don’t not want to be going to the restroom with a biological male.”

England also expects a Democrat-controlled legislature will enact more legislation like this if a Democrat is elected governor in November.

“Keep Nevada, Nevada. We don’t want San Francisco values taking over our state, and that’s what’s happening here.”