Utah School Districts Discourage Teachers from Informing Parents of Student Gender Transitions
Utah School Districts Discourage Teachers from Informing Parents of Student Gender Transitions
‘Volunteering known information about a student’s sexuality with parents is not advised,’ one policy manual states.
"That isn't happening"
I can see how people raised in stable loving families think 'why shouldnt the parents know?' But I was raised by a raging narcissist, if dad slept bad a head-punch during breakfast was not uncommon. First memory I have is being hurt by my dad...
If I were trans this would have sealed my fate; killed via 'exorcism'
If the kid doesnt want their parents to know about their gender identity well that isnt a bad kid, those are bad parents. Yes really.
Believe you me, the good parents dont need the school to tell them, they already know because a child that feels safe will just tell you. If you really love them you will already know anyways just from paying attention to them.
I know people with mental diagnosis who support this shit. Try explaining to them that they are one the list of undesirables too, or dont if you value your time and sanity.
96Exactly. If the parents don't already know, there's a reason.
39I tried to explain this shit to my own dad when telling him that I would rather the schools keep that kind of info to himself and he just kept pushing that I would change my mind when my daughter was born. Somehow, it was inconceivable to him that informing parents of this kind of thing puts children at risk of emotional and physical harm.
Guess what: I still believe the same now that my daughter is born because I know there are shit parents out there who would torture their children for not conforming. I'm going to do everything I can to instill the kind of trust my daughter needs to tell me if she's part of the LGBT community. And if she doesn't feel comfortable? Then I've failed.
26If my child is not comfortable telling me, then my job as a parent is to simply provide love and care untill they do feel comfortable, and if they never do for whatever reason (people are complicated and its not always mom and dads fault) then my job is to accept that fact and continue to provide love and care
17You know, I had my doubts about my parents ability as parents, but they always repeated I'd understand after I had my own. And they were right. After I had my kid I realized what a shit job they did parenting. They mostly meant well, but clearly not enough to read a book about it.
4
Exactly. I was disowned when I came out at 20. Telling my mom would’ve been bad because it would’ve denied me an important moment in our lives, and an opportunity for her to support me on our terms. Telling my then father would’ve just made him stop talking to me as a teenager.
Other kids face physical violence. It’s not uncommon for a trans person to be murdered by a parent.
This idea that parents have a right to know everything about their child will get kids killed. But kids aren’t people like parents are to many people
17Im sorry you had to deal with that. I flipped the script on them, support this crap and they are gone, dissowned, refered to as 'the biggot formerly know as <insert name>', I'll talk about them as though they are sub-human, see how they like it.
Some relatives arent invited to my wedding because although I dont like my sil's spouse on a personal level, they are trans, they are invited and they will be protected. I would rather spend time with someone decent who I dont get along with than someone biggoted who I used to get along with.
I hope you are in a good place in life now, stay strong. It will take time but conservatives always lose to the inevitable march of progress. They've been losing, and that is why they are so mad
5
I have a trans child, and they were terrified to tell me, but not because of anything I did. They ended up coming out to me multiple times because I didn't react the way they were told to expect.
They have plenty of trans friends whose lives would be much worse if their parents knew. I don't think any school has the right to reveal that kind of information before a kid is ready.
8Stay strong, all we have to do to win is refuse to give up or give in
3
Good chance they'll be kicked out of their home or worse. There's an epidemic of lgbt youth homelessness nationwide, and it's even worse in Utah for obvious reasons. Schools should not be carte blanche informing parents without permission from the student, it's a safety issue. Reading their full guidance for teachers in another comment above it's making some very reasonable suggestions to help ensure student safety.
https://www.upr.org/utah-news/2012-06-11/utah-one-of-the-worst-places-to-be-lgbt-and-homeless
48Religion is child abuse, doubly so for LGBT kids
14Get out of here with that. Utah is solidly in the middle of the pack for child homelessness. California is biggest per capita, four times the rate of Utah. Spreading misinformation doesn't help anyone. https://homelesslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2021StateIndexReport.pdf
https://usafacts.org/articles/which-states-have-the-highest-and-lowest-rates-of-homelessness/
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2024/02/22/states-with-the-biggest-child-homelessness-problem/
-9I am not spreading misinformation and did not imply that Utah had the worst youth homeless rate in general among all states, we're talking specifically about lgbt youth homelessness, and the greatly increased dangers of being kicked out of your home and many other types of abuse that LGBT youth face. This is a major problem across the entire country, including Utah. So I think in any state there should be a lot of thought put into whether schools should just start disclosing information like gender or sexual identities to students families, without assessing if that might be putting the student into danger.
Unfortunately Utah refuses to formally gather information on things like gender identity and sexual orientation in its youth homeless population, data that is gathered in many other states, so Utah has deliberately made a direct comparison between states not possible on this issue. You would also need to factor in that many homeless individuals relocate to areas with increased services to help. You would also need to consider if youth feel safe even disclosing this information to a state agency run by a very conservative lgbt hostile state government. If Utah wants to prove it's better on this issue and that the anecdotal evidence and evidence gathered directly at homeless shelters is wrong, than they can start gathering the data themselves, they've had plenty of chances to do so. I'm gonna assume the worst when they refuse to look. Go to any of the lgbt youth homeless centers in Salt Lake City before belittling this problem, and spreading awareness about it is not misinformation.
http://www.nomorestrangers.org/homeless-youth-in-utah/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lgbt-morman-youth_b_1597617
https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/2/03/suicides-or-not-lds-harming-lgbt-youth#toggle-gdpr
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-plight-of-homeless-yo_b_10205650
8
From a comment to the article:
Dolphan
Feb 22
I contacted a member of the State Education Board, who contacted the Alpine School District. This is what I received back: "I reached out to Alpine school district and asked if they would confirm what we read here. I have received the following response.
Recently, the National Review published an article referencing an Alpine School District document containing guidelines for respecting gender identity. We shared this document with all administrators districtwide two years ago following the Utah State statute. The article misrepresented Alpine School District in what administrators and teachers can and cannot do when it comes to informing parents of students' requests regarding gender identity.
To clarify, we as educators are not required to report a student's gender identity unless the student requests informally or formally to be referred to by a different pronoun or name. In this situation, we communicate to the student that we can only honor that request if parents are notified and agree upon the request. The information shared in this article was taken out of context, and, unfortunately, the article communicates that the district somehow withholds information from parents. We value our partnership with our parents, and we, the district, do not hold information from parents that is under our purview to share in support of students."
It would seem someone is not correct or at least not communicating correctly. That would be either NR or Alpine School District. That they choose not to comment or clarify to NR is puzzling. That they did clarify to the State School Board is not so puzzling. Hopefully the above clarification is accurate and reflects actual practice at the classroom level.
19That's weird. The National Review giving horseshit slanted reporting related to LGBTQ rights? What next?
17
Remember the go old days when teachers…
checks notes
Taught classes?
16I mean....most of my teachers were pretty cool, and we're caring compassionate humans with a passion for teaching. Most. And a lot of my friends from different schools didn't even have most. I know 3 people who got ratted on to their parents by their teachers that they were gay. And this was like late 90s early 00s. Luckily they had cool parents who didn't beat the living shit out of them or kick them out or worse.. but that's absolutely something that has happened forever.
4For much of the day during the school year, the teacher is the only adult figure the kids have daily interaction with. That puts some lever of caregiver responsibility on their shoulders. That’s nothing new.
1
If anyone wants more context, you can read the document here.
The advice on the subject of informing parents reads:
Telling parents
Note that the ACLU is very protective of a student's right to privacy in his/her sexuality. If a school employee believes that "a situation exists which presents a serious threat to the well-being of a student," the employee must notify parents without delay. (Utah Code 53A- 13-302(6)(b)(i)). Other than a threatening situation, volunteering known information about a student's sexuality with parents is not advised.
Consider the following factors in making a determination about talking to parents:
- Age of students
- Whether student is being bullied based on sexuality or gender identity
- Student requests
- Knowledge of parents' relationship with students
What if a student asks to be called a preferred name/pronoun and parents object? Unless the student is 18, parents' requests should govern.
Seems pretty reasonable to me.
11What if a student asks to be called a preferred name/pronoun and parents object? Unless the student is 18, parents’ requests should govern.
This part makes no sense to me. Don't inform parents unless the student is OK with it. But if the parent tells the teacher to call the blank and the student disagrees, ignore the student. Is that just to prevent the teacher screwing up and calling the student by their preferred name to the parents accidentally?
5Why the fuck does a student need permission from their parents to be addressed how they want to be addressed?
8I don't think so - to me it seems more about weighing up the student's need vs the parents' decision. The school district want to honor the student's wishes as much as possible but if they are <18 they are not legally an adult, so the school ultimately should defer to the parents.
Sensible from legal standpoint, even though it would suck for the student.
4
When I was a kid, teachers only called your parents if you were failing. Some of the teachers didn't even do that.
6Clickbait title.
4It's not only happening, it's supported by the tyrannical left.
-52Yes. Children should only be allowed to exist so far as a parent lets them. There is no point where they can be allowed freedom to explore and find what makes them happy. The parents ideals for them are always correct and should never be questioned. Any deviation from the parents wishes is always wrong and the only way to preserve society is by strictly enforcing the things students are allowed to talk about.
And you call the people that oppose this line of thinking tyrannical?
36People say this isn't happening to the idea that everything outside is going to force a child to transition. Not telling families about noticing a child is some part of the LBTGQ+ community has gone on for some time now because those kids were being made homeless, physically abused, and murdered by their families when they found out.
So, if for some god forsaken reason, you have kids, I hope the same happens.
18The phrase "tyrannical left" outs you as a nazi fyi
14Shhh, we need Nazis to out themselves.
10
You like abusing kids
11The funny thing is, your stupidity is so bad you don't even know what you are raging against. If you weren't such a fucking moron, you would have read the ACTUAL policy instead of basing your opinion on the National Review's selective excerpts from the policy. The ACTUAL policy says that if the students ask to be called anything other than their birth pronouns that the parents should be informed AND that the parents' choice is honored. It is only discouraged to tell the parents if there is no danger seen AND no change to pronouns.
1