Texas Attorney General proposes that teachers out trans kids to their parents

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has declared a local school’s trans policy is illegal and has suggested that teachers should out trans kids to their parents.

Ken Paxton, a Republican, made the comments responding to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, in a non-binding opinion.

Texas Attorney General proposes that teachers out trans kids to their parents

In the opinion he declared that a policy inclusive of trans students at the Fort Worth Independent School District was in violation of state law, reports the Advocate.

The District’s new policy was adopted on 19 April and simply allows trans students to use gender-appropriate bathrooms.

It also states that schools should respond to requests from students for single-stall or multi-stall bathrooms with no other students present.

Paxton, however, ignores federal anti-discrimination protections for trans students.

He writes: “Far from creating a partnership between parents, educators, and administrators regarding their children’s education, the Guidelines relegate parents to a subordinate status, receiving information only on a ‘need-to-know basis.’ …

“Furthermore, the provision requiring school personnel to ‘work closely with the student’ to determine to what extent, if any, a parent will be involved in the student’s transitioning suggests that employees could, pursuant to these restrictions, encourage some children to withhold information from a parent. … Such action is both against state law and grounds for discipline under the Education Code.”

The Lieutenant Governor, Patrick, responded to call for the School District superintendent to step down.

He told the Dallas Morning News: “Today’s attorney general opinion is a clear and resounding victory for parents within the Fort Worth ISD who deserve a transparent superintendent and school board that follows the law.”

The state of Texas and ten other states are suing President Obama over his administration’s strong stance defending transgender rights.

The Obama administration has intervened on LGBT rights after a string of laws attempted to roll back LGBT discrimination protections, purportedly to stop trans people from going to the bathroom.

 

The federal government wrote to every school in the US to advise them that they are obliged not to discriminate against trans people.

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However, that hasn’t gone down well with hard-right Republicans – with GOP politicians in Oklahoma attempting to impeach Obama.

But Paxton was not the only one to file a lawsuit in federal court against the Obama administration.

Officials in eleven states including Texas were included in the complaint.

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