On April 26, 2016, Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Kent Scribner signed into policy a set of district-wide “Transgender Student Guidelines” that instruct Fort Worth ISD employees to “acknowledge the gender identity that each student consistently and uniformly asserts.” The policy grants transgender Fort Worth ISD students the right to use whichever restroom is reflective of their gender identity and provides accommodation for both transgender and cisgender students who may feel uncomfortable with the new policy.
As can be imagined, LGBT advocacy groups have championed this change in Fort Worth ISD policy. But not everyone is happy with the decision and some are expressing their dislike of the new policy with raving hostility.
One of the figures not happy with Dr. Scribner is Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is going so far as to call for Dr. Scribner’s resignation from the Fort Worth ISD in the wake of the superintendent’s socially progressive decision. It’s a battle of heavyweights — the second most-powerful executive in the Texas government and the head of the state’s sixth-largest school district — on a human rights battleground currently on tour.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Patrick released a statement taking jabs at Dr. Scribner.
“After less than a year as superintendent, Dr. Scribner has lost his focus and thereby his ability to lead the Fort Worth ISD. He has placed his own personal political agenda ahead of the more than 86,000 students attending 146 schools in the district by unilaterally adopting ‘Transgender Student Guidelines.’
Without any discussion from parents, board members, principals, and other community leaders, Dr. Scribner’s unilateral action underscores this lack of fitness to hold his position as superintendent. Campus safety should be of paramount concern for anyone in his position. Every parent, especially those of young girls, should be outraged.”
Lt. Gov. Patrick’s argument doesn’t hold water. It’s logically flawed. The lieutenant governor has accused Dr. Scribner of “placing his own personal political agenda” ahead of Fort Worth ISD’s students, even though this “personal political agenda” is basically the human rights perspective. If someone biologically born a man or a woman identifies and more importantly, lives their life as a woman or a man, then should they not fully immerse themselves in that lifestyle?
If Lt. Gov. Patrick’s peers are any indication, lifestyles are not conditional aspects of human existence. After all, no one chooses to be a Christian, right?
But more egregiously than the assertion that Dr. Scribner’s inclusive ideology is merely a “personal political agenda” — because conservatives love complaining ad nauseum about “personal political agendas” that are liberal or progressive in nature while conveniently sidestepping their own — Lt. Gov. Patrick committed the cardinal sin of the opposition stance toward trans-friendly public restrooms: “Every parent, especially those of young girls, should be outraged.”
Lt. Gov. Patrick put the focus of his call to action squarely on the backs of young girls. At its core, the opposition to trans-friendly restroom policies is seemingly only focused on transgender women and how the opposition movement believes they will act when in a public restroom with little girls. Aside from the fact that there are zero reported cases of transgender people assaulting others in public restrooms, this argument ignores the horrifying amount of boys who are assaulted by cisgender men.
If he weren’t in prison, trans-friendly policies would not keep Jerry Sandusky out of public restrooms. Trans-friendly policies won’t keep Catholic priests out of public restrooms. Trans-friendly policies won’t keep registered sex offenders out of public restrooms. Trans-friendly policies won’t keep former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert out of public restrooms. Isn’t it funny how young boys are disproportionately molested by men, yet there has not been a single move made in an attempt to keep them safe from the men who pray on them, and they are also conveniently missing from the conversation?
What Lt. Gov. Patrick refers to as a “unilateral decision” was, according to Jacinto Ramos, President of Fort Worth ISD’s School Board of Trustees, actually not. The trans-friendly guidelines in question began development in 2014, with the policy guidelines being drafted last summer. According to a district official, Dr. Scribner informed the school board that he signed the guidelines and that the guidelines did not require any kind of vote from the school board. According to Mr. Ramos, the school board had “plenty of time” to review the guidelines and request further discussion.
They never made that call.
Lt. Gov. Patrick isn’t the only notable figure in firm opposition to Fort Worth ISD’s new trans-friendly policy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a letter directly to Mr. Ramos insinuating that Fort Worth ISD’s new policy violates the Texas Education Code:
“I have strong concern that this policy violates provisions in the Texas Education Code that give parents an unequivocal right to information regarding their children and is motivated by a misguided view of Title IX.”
Parents of Fort Worth ISD students have also joined the fray. Jane Lacey told NBCDFW:
“It’s being imposed on us have bathrooms transgender. It’s very black and white. Do you want a girl coming into your bathroom? Do you want a boy coming into your bathroom? Emphatically, it’s a no.”
Another district parent, Zed Pent, has claimed he represents several organizations that oppose the guidelines.
“This is all about process and the fact that this was not put to a vote. We live in a democracy and the citizens that put the board members in place should have had a say.”
But few opponents are as vocal and committed to their opposition as Rev. Kyev Tatum, the President and CEO of the Tarrant County Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He has asked the Texas Education Agency to investigate what happened during a public meeting conducted by the Fort Worth ISD to hear reaction from the public regarding the district’s new trans-friendly policy. Rev. Tatum was removed from that meeting, as he claims, because the school board was censoring his opposition viewpoint to the policy. A district representative, however, states that Rev. Tatum was removed from the meeting because he was interrupting other speakers.
On his removal, Rev. Tatum stated:
“They really need to sanction them and tell them that you cannot subvert the will of the people by not allowing them to speak.”
Even with all of the opposition to the Fort Worth ISD’s new transgender student policy, the school district does have support. Not every district parent is opposed to the new policy and several advocacy groups, including Equality Texas, are pleased to see the Fort Worth ISD taking such a progressive stance on the issue, especially while state and local governments nationwide have signed into law the anti-trans views mirrored by Lt. Gov. Patrick, A.G. Paxton, and Rev. Tatum.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price issued a statement ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between the Fort Worth ISD and the public, throwing her support in Dr. Scribner’s corner.
“While I respect the passion on this particular issue and drastically differing opinions, I strongly believe this is a local issue that needs to be focused on the safety, inclusion and education of all 86,000 FWISD students.”
Another supporter of Dr. Scribner’s is Steve Rudner, chairman of the board for Equality Texas. He said of the lieutenant governor’s position of forcing transgender students to use public restrooms designated for their biological sex:
“The lieutenant governor’s proposal would cause Texas to violate federal law, as defined recently by the 4th circuit, and [Monday] by our nation’s attorney general, and would put our school funding, $6 billion a year, at risk. It would ultimately cause for our state the economic chaos now being suffered by the state of North Carolina. The lieutenant governor’s demands that we should violate federal law are not only dangerous and economically risky, but they also demonize transgender students, many of whom are forced to drop out of school because of the constant bullying and aggression they face.”
And that’s ultimately what this all comes down to. Even though the new trans-friendly policy implemented by Dr. Scribner and the Fort Worth ISD can be dated back to 2014, they are in compliance with the federal Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Gavin Grimm. What Lt. Gov. Patrick and his ilk are attempting to do is strong-arm the Fort Worth ISD into defying the legal position — more importantly, the human decision — by the federal government and the court system.
Lt. Gov. Patrick is channeling his inner Gov. McCrory and if he succeeds in forcing his view, or if the state succeeds in implementing a “bathroom bill” similar to North Carolina’s during next year’s legislative session, he will succeed in bringing to Texas the same legal and economic challenges currently weakening North Carolina.
But Lt. Gov. Patrick appears unconcerned with the potential fallout that could manifest if Texas takes the bigoted road. He is doubling-down his position and his fake outrage over the issue, even taking a moment when speaking at Thursday’s GOP convention in Dallas to quip:
“It is great to be in the largest Republican convention on the planet and not one man wants to use the ladies’ room.”
The following video is courtesy of WFAA, Dallas-Fort Worth’s ABC affiliate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZWjwV90YeQ
Featured image by Sam Howzit, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
h/t Texas Tribune
