School board votes to allow discrimination against trans students

A school board in Wisconsin voted to remove “gender identity” from its anti-discrimination policy on Monday, leaving trans and nonbinary students open to discrimination and harassment punishment.

The Muskego-Norway School Board updated its discrimination policy to remove “gender identity” from the list of protected categories while leaving the ban on “sexual orientation” discrimination in place. The policy previously said, “The Board does not discriminate on the basis of sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), in its education programs or activities.”

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The board initially considered removing both sexual orientation and gender identity from the policy. Instead, School board president Terri Boyer proposed removing gender identity from the policy to “remain consistent with Wisconsin state law.” State law bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in several areas, including employment and housing, but not discrimination based on gender identity.

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The state’s pupil nondiscrimination law doesn’t explicitly mention gender identity. Still, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) encourages schools to include gender identity or expression in their anti-discrimination policies to create safe and supportive environments for LGBTQ+ students.

Neither Boyer nor district officials responded to media inquiries from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about why a school would strip protections away from students. Parents felt that the school was not being supportive of LGBTQ+ students, especially when trans students across the country have faced hostile legislation.

Earlier this month, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups filed a federal complaint against the nearby Kettle Moraine School District, citing Title IX violations for similar policy changes. Far-right extremist group Moms for Liberty is behind many of these changes.

Moms for Liberty recently sued the Biden administration over its updated Title IX regulations, which expanded Title IX’s ban on discrimination based on sex to include gender identity. As a result of the lawsuit, a temporary injunction has been placed that blocks the Department of Education from enforcing the new regulations in schools where the children of Moms for Liberty members are enrolled.

Suzanne Eckes, an education law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that trans kids must still be protected. “Whether they kick it out of their policy or not, they still need to follow the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision.” She was referring to a 2017 decision from the appeals court that found in favor of a trans student who was misgendered in school and forced to use the wrong bathroom, ruling that Title IX’s protections in education extend to trans students.

Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, one of the LGBTQ+ advocacy groups involved in the federal complaint against Kettle Moraine, said that both Fair Wisconsin and GSAFE, another LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, are currently gathering information to decide on the best course of action, which may involve filing additional complaints.

“This is why it is so important that we learn of votes like the one taken by the Muskego-Norway school board,” Swetz said.

Recently, an English teacher at a Wisconsin public school sued his former school after his contract was not renewed because he repeatedly misgendered students. He then said that being forced to use the trans students’ pronouns violated his religious beliefs.

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