I live in a state that claims to be all about education and families but is ranked in the bottom 5 of US states in terms of teacher salaries. I moved here from a place where my values seemed to be aligned with the people around me but here I am very much in the minority. When I decided to re-locate here, I knew that the leader of my new home was a narcissistic guy whose actions are all about setting himself up for the national stage of the next presidential election. Over the proceeding months he has signed laws that seem to be rooted in hatred. The latest one really went over the line for me.
At present, our governor is expected to sign into law a bill that prevents students and teachers from being required to use pronouns that do not correspond to a person’s biological sex. I’ve had a trans student who was able to thrive socially by being allowed to live authentically as SHE sees fit. There were zero problems in the classroom regarding this. In fact, it’s entirely possible that none of the kids were aware of HER situation. Everyone seemed to be learning to the extent that they were interested in doing so.
I’ve heard that families of the LGBTQ community are packing up and leaving our state in fear of what’s to come as all of these discriminatory laws enter the books. When same sex marriages were given the OK by the Supreme Court I was hopeful that our society was making strides towards greater tolerance and acceptance. Where I live, we are more worried about pronouns than the fact that kids can’t read and write. I am fearful for kids like my ex-student who have so much to grapple with without being made to feel inferior. If the politicians of my state would devote the same amount of energy towards ensuring successful outcomes for our kids as they do towards hatred and division, we’d end up with a really sharp group of kids.