Buckle up folks, I’m going to talk fast and we’re going to have serious topics.

But that’s how we do it right here on Your Daily Lex.

The good news is I do not have COVID.

I stayed in the basement, sequestered away from everybody else for a while and then on Sunday we spent Father’s Day mostly outside so that we could be together with the great outdoors surrounding us and thus less fear of spreading COVID if I had it, which many negative tests later I’m confident to say I do not.

This evening I need to attend a Board of Education meeting.

There are so many things I would rather do than attend a Board of Education meeting, starting with not attend a Board of Education meeting.

But instead I’m going because they are updating once again their policy on how they handle transgender students and other LGBTQ plus issues.

And you can’t just sit silently, I can’t just post on Mastodon about stuff that bothers me.

I got to do something.

So sitting at an angry meeting full of MAGA people is close to the least I can do that’s more than just posting.

But I’m going to at least use my three minutes.

Thanks to various folks, some of whom listen to the show like John and Brian, for their feedback on my talk.

Thanks to folks who don’t listen to this podcast like Chip for their feedback.

But I’m going to share with you my three minute speech.

To make it fit into three minutes I have to talk fast and I want to practice it.

And although I try not to talk insanely fast on this show, sometimes a baby’s got to do what a baby’s got to do.

So it’s a Rugrats reference for those of you playing along at home.

But anyway, I have three minutes today.

And here’s what I’ll say.

Good evening, I’m Lex Friedman.

Dun dun dun dun.

Wouldn’t that be funny if I brought my own theme song?

It’s funny to me.

Good evening, I’m Lex Friedman.

I appreciate the improvements made to this policy, but there’s more work needed.

First, the sentence quote, for students in grades pre K through five, the responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student’s parents.

I’m a parent to three kids.

The board’s policy correctly defines gender identity as a personal internal deeply held sense of gender, but it incorrectly identifies the responsible party.

Parents do not determine their child’s gender identity.

As every parent knows, we can’t dictate our kids internal deeply held innermost thoughts.

I can’t dictate my kids gender identity any more than I can.

Any more than I can dictate who they have a crush on, or what their favorite color is.

Again, this policy literally states quote, determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student’s parents.

Parents don’t have that power.

The only person who can determine someone’s gender identity is that someone more worryingly, the policy requires a student’s parent be notified about a transgender student’s gender identity, name change or other accommodation quote, provided there is no credible evidence that doing so would subject the student to physical or emotional harm or abuse.

There is universal credible evidence that forced outing will always lead to emotional harm.

That’s what forcing does.

Children don’t waive their constitutional rights by enrolling in public school.

Federal law affords kids and adults the right to privacy.

Violating a student’s constitutional right to privacy is absolutely a form of harm and abuse.

Students need to feel safe at school, they need to trust their educators and staff, and they need to be safe at home too.

It is fundamentally harmful for the school to force students to out themselves to the parents or be outed.

You must remove forced outing from this policy.

Back to the policy’s language again.

The principal should inform the student that due to legal requirements and or for the student’s protection and well-being, there may be incidents where the student’s transgender status will be disclosed.

We know that trans and non-binary students are at the highest risk of depression and suicide.

Requiring that the principal tell a student, I may have to forcibly out you with a claim that it’s for their protection and well-being isn’t just illogical and flawed, it’s wrong.

It’s harmful.

Requiring the principal to warn kids they could be forcibly outed is a policy that will cruelly shut kids up about their gender identity, lest they forfeit their own right to privacy.

I also want to flag that the latest revision to this document removes language about permitting and supporting students in the formation of clubs or programs related to LGBTQ youth and peer-led education programs.

Guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education explicitly calls for such permission and support to comply with state law.

Where did that language go?

We don’t have the best track record in this country regarding dealing with people who we see as different.

It took an 1865 amendment to legally treat black people like whole human beings.

We didn’t grant women the right to vote until 1920.

We didn’t legalize gay marriage until 2015.

Trans rights are human rights.

It’s decision time.

Do we want to make more decisions that we’ll be embarrassed by a few short years from now?

Or do we want to recognize that people are people, that love is love, that identity is identity, and that even, or perhaps especially, the most vulnerable among us are entitled to a right to privacy?

Anyway that’s the end of it.

People should just be cool to other people, you know what I’m saying?

I think you do.

I hope you do.

Anyway, I’ll catch you tomorrow.

otfa-blX.