{"id":1175630,"date":"2023-08-09T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=441179"},"modified":"2023-08-09T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T18:00:00","slug":"targeting-trans-kids-florida-school-board-requires-parental-approval-for-nicknames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/08\/09\/targeting-trans-kids-florida-school-board-requires-parental-approval-for-nicknames\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting Trans Kids, Florida School Board Requires Parental Approval for Nicknames"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"ORLANDO,<\/p>\n

Students and others attend a \u201cwalkout to learn\u201d rally to protest Florida education policies outside Orlando City Hall on April 21, 2023, in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Paul Hennessy\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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In their latest<\/u> absurd and overreaching attempt to stomp out gender nonconformity, Florida Republicans have found a new tactic: nicknames. If a child in Florida\u2019s Orange County Public Schools system wants to use a name that deviates in any way from their legal name, they must now submit a signed parental permission form.<\/p>\n

According to a memo<\/a> released Monday, the new rule, while transparently targeted at trans kids, applies to all students, including cis students using common nicknames.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an example, if the student is named Robert, but likes to be called the nickname Rob, the form must be filled out authorizing teachers and other personnel to call Robert the nickname Rob,\u201d the new guidelines state.<\/p>\n

Such are the extremities to which far-right school boards are willing to go to oppress young trans people.<\/p>\n

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If a cis boy with the legal name Robert can\u2019t be called Rob in school without parental permission, then neither could a trans girl called Roberta. Even if Roberta could obtain parental permission to use her chosen name, Florida law ensures that the school is still free to misgender her. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the recently adopted House Bill 1069, the teacher or other personnel may elect not to utilize the pronoun \u2018she\/her\u2019 when referring to Roberta,\u201d notes the school board memo. If parents fail to serve Republicans as a disciplining force against gender nonconformity, the GOP passion for parental rights flies out the window.          <\/p>\n

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Orange County is not<\/a> the first<\/a> public school system to introduce<\/a> a guideline around students\u2019 chosen names. In total, however, the school board\u2019s new rules<\/a> comprise some of the most extreme and comprehensive anti-trans policies of any public institution in the country \u2014 the fruits of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s radically reactionary takeover of education policy. Like most astroturfed assaults on trans existence in recent years, the Orange County rules combine a vile mixture of banned and coerced speech; fixations on bathrooms<\/a> and genitalia<\/a>; threats of harsh penalties and vigilante<\/a> enforcement; and profoundly selective invocations of parental rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Slate\u2019s Mark Joseph Stern noted<\/a> on Twitter, these anti-trans rules were introduced during a \u201cSEVERE teacher shortage,\u201d as the Orange County Public School system has been \u201cchronically unable to retain teachers year-to-year.\u201d Facing hundreds of vacancies, the school board nonetheless prioritized new guidelines that would either drive out or repel trans and trans-supportive teachers and staff.<\/p>\n

These policies are grimly predictable for a school board infiltrated<\/a> by the far-right extremist group<\/a> Moms for Liberty, as Orange County and other Florida districts were last year<\/a>. When it comes to names and pronouns, however, the new rules go particularly far: Teachers \u2014 adult workers \u2014 must use pronouns and titles that align with their assigned sex at birth, according to Monday\u2019s memo. The guidance brings the school board\u2019s policy into alignment with a vile Florida law<\/a>, which was passed in May.<\/p>\n

This detail bears repeating, as it crystallizes Republicans\u2019 selective approach to free speech: Teachers are not required to use their trans students\u2019 chosen pronouns, but trans teachers are expressly forbidden from using the pronouns that align with their gender. The policy appears to stand in direct violation of the First Amendment, as well as the Supreme Court\u2019s Bostock<\/a> decision, which protects LGBTQ+ workers from discrimination.<\/p>\n

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\n Related <\/h2>\n

The Unspeakable Cruelty of Targeting Trans Kids to Score Campaign Points<\/h3>\n

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The fact that the rules for students\u2019 chosen names apply to both cis and trans children may at first appear as merely a cynical ploy to avoid legal challenges, as anti-trans laws have consistently been blocked in federal courts<\/a> in recent months. No one truly believes a teacher will face disciplinary consequences for calling a cis boy Rob without a form from his parents. Any such rules will be selectively enforced to attack gender nonconformity.<\/p>\n

The blanket name change rule is no doubt a legal fig leaf, but it nonetheless reveals that gender conformity requires expansive authoritarian enforcement far beyond the policing of trans and queer communities and individuals.<\/p>\n

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An education policy committed to trans eliminationism must also insist that all children be held in disciplined stasis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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This is not to relativize the suffering inflicted on trans students through such rules. Enforcing the use of trans kids\u2019 deadnames is a violence; enforcing the use of legal names for cis children doesn\u2019t come close, but it remains a significant denial of autonomy.<\/p>\n

To insist on gender conformity requires broad social control; an education policy committed to trans eliminationism must also insist that all children be held in disciplined stasis. That\u2019s a feature of the far-right agenda, not a bug.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, hundreds of thousands of students have protested and continue to protest school board meetings, staging walkouts<\/a> against anti-trans laws and policies, including<\/a> in Orange County. They will not be readily controlled \u2014 they will use each other\u2019s names.<\/p>\n

The post Targeting Trans Kids, Florida School Board Requires Parental Approval for Nicknames<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Orange County Public Schools\u2019 anti-trans policies are extreme, even in Ron DeSantis\u2019s Florida.<\/p>\n

The post Targeting Trans Kids, Florida School Board Requires Parental Approval for Nicknames<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1175630"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184963,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175630\/revisions\/1184963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1175630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1175630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1175630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}