A Michigan middle school has directed teachers not to tell a young student’s mother that he identifies as transgender and is “transitioning” into a girl, according to an email obtained by Fox News.
Keep in mind, middle school students are typically 11 to 13 years old.
Just give that a second to sink in. Remember how wise and informed your decisions were when you were 12? Yeah, me too. It’s a wonder I’m still alive.
The email, reportedly written by a school counselor to teachers at Richards Middle School in Fraser, Michigan, gave instructions to use only the boy’s “birth name” and the pronoun “he” in conversations with the boy’s mother.
Throughout the email, the counselor refers to the student using a female name, which the student apparently chose for himself, and female pronouns.
If gender is a social construct, then how does the concept of a “female” name or pronoun have any meaning in the first place? But I digress.
A spokesperson for Fraser Public Schools told Fox News that “the district is mindful of and compliant with its obligations under Title IX laws.”
Literally no one knows what that means, including, I’m willing to bet, the spokesperson for Fraser Public Schools.
As Fox pointed out, there is nothing in Title IX that would discourage a school from telling a parent about his or her student’s gender dysphoria.
Should schools be required to share information like this with parents?
And while federal guidance on the matter has wavered depending on the political party occupying the White House, there’s nothing in any guidance from the Biden administration that would suggest that schools should withhold such information from parents, either.
Of course, the Biden administration wouldn’t call it gender dysphoria, but I’m digressing again.
At the state level, Michigan’s Department of Education has proposed guidance stating that students “have the right to decide when, with whom, and to what extent to share private information.”
Putting aside for the moment whether or not that’s a good idea — anyone who has ever been a 12-year-old boy should agree that it’s not — a spokesperson for the department told Fox that the guidance has not been approved anyway.
Even the proposed guidance admits, “Privacy considerations may vary with the age of the students.”
So in what way, exactly, does Fraser Public Schools think it’s being “mindful of and compliant with its obligations under Title IX laws”?
Your guess is as good as theirs, most likely.
Look: If you had a secret with a 12-year-old that had even the least bit to do with his or her sexuality, it would be called contributing to the delinquency of a minor. And rightly so.
In Fraser, Michigan, it’s called guidance counseling.
Whatever you call it, it’s unwise at best, and certainly not mandated by Title IX. Fraser Public Schools is going to have to find some other scapegoat to hide behind.
