NC School District's Transgender Guidelines Bar Teachers From Calling Students 'Boys and Girls,' FRC Warns
The Family Research Council, a pro-life and pro-traditional marriage conservative group, is speaking out against a North Carolina school district's transgender guidelines, which would bar teachers from calling their students "boys and girls."
"These transgender guidelines, which will go into effect this month, range from absurd to downright outrageous. Not only are teachers not allowed to call their students 'boys and girls,' but boys who identify as girls would be permitted to participate on overnight all-girl field trips," the organization said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
The FRC pointed to a Fox News report which said that teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina have been advised to "stop calling the children 'boys and girls,' according to a training presentation on transgender issues."
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North Carolina school districts, such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, have been using material such as a pro-LGBT character called the "gender unicorn" to teach faculty members about students with gender identity issues, where faculty are also told that parental involvement might not be required for such matters.
The training material explains that students will have a say in how much their parents will get to be inolved in their gender identity struggles.
Conservative Christian brothers David and Jason Benham have warned that such initaitives are based on a "godless agenda" that stems from the "hippie sexual revolution," and David spoke before the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board earlier this month to alert parents about the government's plans.
"I came here tonight to plead with you not to use our children — our future — as social experiments. I'm asking you not to let our kids become pawns in the hands of radical, sexual revolutionaries who don't care about them, you, me or anyone but themselves," David said in his speech earlier in August.
"Their main target is to eliminate any and all moral standards. This allows those pushing the agenda to rebuild society in man's image — not God's — with government as the ultimate giver (and taker) of our rights," he added.
The school district, according to Fox News, is also looking to establish gender-neutral bathrooms, locker rooms and showers, though such edicts are dependent on upcoming federal court rulings.
WSCOTV also reported earlier in August that eliminating boy and girl references are part of the CMS bully prevention regulations.
"CMS remains fully committed to supporting its transgender students and nurturing a safe and welcoming environment for every student and employee," said CMS Chief Communications Officer Kathryn Block back then.
In another case back in October 2014, a school district in Nebraska also reportedly told middle school teachers to use "gender inclusive" expressions such as "purple penguins" instead of "gendered" ones, such as "boys and girls."
But in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an elementary school principal apologized in August after initally telling teachers it wouldn't be acceptable to call students boys and girls.
Some LGBT activist groups, such as the Human Rights Campaign, have made the call for teachers to be careful of the language they use with students, and avoid making them feel "out of place" and isolated by labeling them based on their gender.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration issued a directive for public schools to allow male students to go into girls' facilities if they identify as female, and vice versa, though a Texas judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking such directives earlier this week.
Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, said in his court ruling that the White House had failed to open up the new guidelines for notice and comment, The Christian Post reported on Monday.
FRC President Tony Perkins praised the judge's opinion as a win for "parental rights and the privacy of schoolchildren nationwide, and a win for Texas and 12 other states that sued the administration over its coercive bathroom policy."
Soon after the directive was issued, Texas filed a complaint in district court and was joined by Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Perkins argued in his statement that the Obama administration "went far beyond the limits of its constitutional and statutory authority to rewrite laws legally adopted by Congress."
"These federal agencies are attempting to use the bully pulpit to strip parents and local school districts of the right to provide a safe learning environment for their children by forcing them to adopt controversial shower and bathroom policies," he added.
"I encourage parents in every school district in America to demand that their local school boards not sacrifice the privacy and safety of their children because of this administration's pursuit of political correctness."
Other conservative leaders in America, such as the Rev. Franklin Graham, warned Americans that the battle against Obama's transgender directive is "not over."
Graham called on Christians to pray that O'Connor's ruling "will be a turning of the tide for the outrageous transgender laws that LGBTQ activists and the Democratic Party have been trying to force down our throats as a nation."
The evangelical leader added that the "battle's not over — unless something changes in Washington you can be assured this will be appealed, so we've got to continue to pray and work against this."
