In the half century since Title IX first banned sex-based discrimination in schools and colleges that receive federal funding, society’s understanding of gender and sexuality has broadened. This has led to more widespread acceptance for all young people.
Louisiana should not be seeking to turn back the clock to a time when LGBTQ+ kids were shamed rather than supported.
Yet that’s essentially what Gov. Jeff Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill and Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley espoused this week when they announced that Louisiana would sue over the Biden administration’s expansion of Title IX protections to cover transgender students.
The officials also instructed schools not to comply with the new rules — effectively employing the idea of civil disobedience to a most uncivil cause.
They said they were doing so in the name of protecting young girls, which is of course a worthy goal. But we see protecting some young people while meanly marginalizing others as a false choice. Should they arise, individual instances of inappropriate behavior can be addressed without resorting to the sort of policies that former Gov. John Bel Edwards rightly called out as state-sanctioned bullying.
The rules announced by the White House would require schools to use students' preferred pronouns and allow them to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Despite much rhetoric around the possibility, they would not open up competitive sports to transgender students, which is illegal in Louisiana under a state law passed two years ago.
Lawmakers are now considering several other laws aimed at transgender kids. One would one to prevent them from using school bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. Another would bar teachers from using students’ preferred names or pronouns without parental permission and allow teachers to decline even if the parents OK it.
We are disappointed that legislators are wasting time pursuing such bills when our state faces so many real challenges. None of these proposals would address factors that contribute to mass outmigration or that keep Louisiana at the bottom of all sorts of health and economic lists.
We were also disappointed to hear the governor make light of transgender students’ struggles to belong.
Referencing the idea of transgender females competing in sports — again, not something that’s part of the new rules — Landry said he "would love to identify as (former LSU basketball great) Shaquille O'Neal," but that he’d be laughed off the court.
That’s no way for a supposed role model to talk about vulnerable kids who can’t thrive in school if they feel unsafe doing something as basic as going to the bathroom.
We know there are teachers and counselors in schools throughout our state who every day strive to put the focus on the targeted students' humanity, and such nonsense isn't helping them.
We get that change is hard, but leaders should always be looking out for those who need their protection most. All of them.