John Kavanagh, the Republican who will soon become Arizona’s junior senator, has proposed a bill requiring schools to get parents’ permission before using children’s chosen pronouns that do not match their biological sex.
No employee or independent contractor of a school district or charter school “shall knowingly address, identify, or refer to a student who is under eighteen by a pronoun that differs from the pronoun that aligns with the student’s biological sex,” as stated in Kavanagh’s proposal, unless the district or charter school has received written permission from the student’s parent.
The measure guarantees a person’s right to practice their religion or morality. It declares that districts and charters have no authority to require teachers to use a specific pronoun when referring to pupils.
Confident Republican lawmakers have proposed that regardless of a person’s gender, they are allowed to use “other pronouns or even the name associated with the opposite biological gender, so long as the parents have provided authority.”
Kavanagh elaborated on how this will aid students in their information-gathering efforts.
Transgender students aren’t alone in their internal conflict; it’s called gender dysphoria. Transgender parents should know that resources are available to them, including emotional support and, in some instances, referrals to qualified professionals. This, he argues, “cannot occur if the school keeps the parents in the dark.”
Future Democratic governor of Arizona Katie Hobbs may not sign the law.
Kavanagh claims that “I think parents must be informed. Provide psychotherapy and mental health services for kids. Especially considering the youths’ illness increases their risk of suicide, Governor Hobbs definitely wouldn’t want to keep them in the dark about this.” Perhaps even the governor wouldn’t have a problem with it.