Another piece of anti-trans legislation — House Bill 1468 — has traveled from the minds of Arkansas’ majority-Republican Senate to the desk of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Another bill that attempts to dictate and suppress the already silenced voices of transgender people is the latest addition to this teetering pile.
Last month, on March 22, Sanders signed a bill restricting transgender people from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
HB1468, nicknamed “The Given Name Act,” would require public school teachers to receive parental approval to address transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns.
Sponsored by Rep. Wayne Long (R-Bradford) and Sen. Mark Johnson (R-Little Rock), the bill states that an unemancipated minor must have “written permission” from their parent or legal guardian for teachers, faculty members and other school employees to respect their identity if it does not align with their birth certificate.
The bill is fuel for bullying, poor student-teacher dynamics and muddled guidelines.
For example, the bill argues that it provides further protection to teachers’ right to free speech, which in return promotes “employees’ rights to disseminate their own opinions.”
Disseminate — meaning to spread — is an ironic word choice for a bill whose primary sponsor insists LGBTQ education is spreading an inappropriate agenda to children.
According to Wayne’s website, waynelongforstaterep.com, he vows to fight for “Biblical marriage” and “local control of Education” and fight against the “LGBT lifestyle being taught to children in public schools.”
Essentially, the bill’s supposed intentions of promoting free speech and “students’ interests in receiving informed opinions on matters of public concern” are thinly veiled attempts at integrating irrational rules to censor LGBTQ youth.
Teachers should not have the right to disseminate their perspective on a student’s gender identity, which arguably works against Arkansas’ anti-bullying laws that protect students based on race, religion, disability, sex and — lo and behold: gender identity, according to acluarkansas.org.
It also covertly defies the constitutional right to religious liberty in public schools, which states that teachers cannot support or oppose any particular religious belief in the instruction of the Bible.
Yet, the bill’s religious intent is sparsely disguised and justifies teachers expressing disagreement with a student’s identity if it does not match their religious belief.
There is a fine line between free speech and unlawful harassment, yet a staff member will not receive any “adverse employment action,” and a student cannot be reprimanded for refusing to respect a student’s gender identity.
“The Given Name Act” also raises a number of questions regarding the mental toll it will take on transgender students and how schools will address the implications of a teacher calling a student the wrong name.
A name goes deeper than a title for most people, especially transgender people.
Referring to a transgender student by their preferred name communicates a message of acceptance in the classroom; this level of empathy is not an exchange many transgender teenagers receive at home.
The same lawmakers that promise protection to children are the same politicians actively writing bills to isolate transgender students in the name of religion and tradition.
HB1468 will turn public education into a dystopian wasteland where teachers and parents are the ultimate authority on a student’s identity and constitutional rights only matter if it’ll make an intolerant bill appear civilized.