University To
Students: You’re a Criminal If You Don’t Use Transgender Approved Language
by Dr. Susan Berry 22 Aug 2016
West Virginia University
(WVU) has told its 29,000 students that they are breaking federal law if don’t
agree to use the pronouns — including ‘he’ or ‘she,’ ‘zir’ or ‘hir’ etc. —
preferred by each person who claims to be transgender.
That policy means if a biological man — for example,
famous transgender athlete Bruce Jenner — says he “identifies” his gender as
female, then all other students must refer to the man as a “she,” or else be
treated as a law-breaker.
WVU says using the wrong pronouns is a crime because the
United States departments of justice and of education insist that transgender
people are protected by decades-old sexual discrimination law.
The new claim is imposed in a university statement that
defines the rights of the relatively few students who are confused about their
gender. Because it is a list of “rights,” it doubles as a list of diversity
commandments for all normal students;
·
You have the right to be treated according to
the gender you identify with. Your school cannot require you to provide legal
or medical evidence in order to have your gender respected.
·
You have the right to be called by the name and
pronouns consistent with your gender identity.
·
You have the right not to be bullie d [sic]or
harassed because you are transgender or gender non-conforming. If you are
bullied or harassed contact your Title IX Coordinator, James Goins, Jr. at
304.293.5600 or James.Goins@mail.wvu.edu.
You may also file a complaint online at titleix.wvu.edu
·
You have the right to equal educational
opportunities regardless of your gender, including your gender identity or
expression, or your race, nationality, or disability. This includes not being
punished or excluded from school activities or events because you are
transgender or gender non-conforming.
·
You have the right to dress and present yourself
in a way that is consistent with your gender identity, so long as you follow
rules for how to dress that apply to all students. This includes how you dress
at school every day as well as for dances, graduation, and other school events.
·
You have the right to use restrooms, locker
rooms, and other facilities that are consistent with your gender identity, and
can’t be forced to use separate facilities. There are several WVU Gender
Inclusive Restrooms on campus.
·
You have the right to privacy concerning your
transgender status and gender transition. Any such information kept in school
records must be kept private and not shared without your permission unless the
school has a legitimate reason that it not based on gender bias.
·
You have the right not to be harassed or
discriminated against based gender stereotypes, including stereotypes about
sexual orientation.
·
You have the right to join or start a Gay-Straight
Alliance or Pride Alliance, and to have your group treated like other student
groups. WVU Spectrum
is West Virginia University’s student-run organization dedicated to providing a
social space for LGBTQ people and their allies in north central West
Virginia.
As the Daily Caller notes,
WVU “offers a handy guide
on ‘Proper pronoun usage’ that explains how to swap out pronouns such as
he, him and his for … pronouns such as ‘ve,’ ‘ver’ and ‘vis.'”
According to the “guide,” a recommended way of
introducing oneself to another individual at WVU is: “My name is Tou and my
pronouns are he and him. What about you?”
“Try making pronouns an optional part of introductions or
check-ins at meetings or in class,” urges WVU, with the warning, “Remember that
people may change their pronouns without changing their name, appearance, or
gender identity.”
In the case of a faux pas – i.e., a fellow student or
professor uses the wrong pronoun – WVU suggests dealing with the error in this
way:
Most people appreciate a quick apology and correction at
the time of the mistake.
Try:
“Her books are—I’m sorry, he r [sic] books are over
there.” By correcting yourself, you’re modeling respectful pronoun use for
others in the conversation. If you only realize the mistake later, a
brief apology can help.
“I’m sorry I used th e [sic] wrong pronoun earlier. I’ll
be more careful next time.”
WVU provides a chart of novel pronouns to help students
understand the variety of new pronouns they are expected to use.
According to one study of the 2010 census, the population
of transgender people amounts to one in every 2,400
Americans, or 0.03 percent of the adult population.
The ideological goal of imposing many new pronouns is to
blur, stigmatize and outlaw the public’s long-standing social and legal
distinctions between men and women. Progressives and transgender activists
sneer at those distinctions as the “gender binary.”
President Barack Obama has spent a great deal of his last
year in office promoting gender fluidity, particularly through directives about
transgender bathrooms. On Friday, the president’s deputies inserted a rule into the
Federal Register that prohibits all federal properties and facilities from
operating single-sex bathrooms. Multiple polls show that
Obama’s transgender policy is very unpopular.
Recently in Washington state, new health and physical
education standards say
children in kindergarten need to “understand there are many ways to express
gender.”
The standards
name “self-identity” as a topic of the “core idea” of the K-12 curriculum, and
define gender as a “social construct based on emotional, behavioral, and
cultural characteristics attached to a person’s assigned biological sex.”
Washington state’s superintendent’s office says the state
utilized the National
Sexuality Education Standards, K-12 (NSES) as a resource for the new
standards.
Advisory members of the NSES include Robert McGarry,
Ed.D., director of training and curriculum development of the Gay, Lesbian
and Straight Education Network (GLSEN);
Monica Rodriguez, MS, president of the Sexuality Information and Education
Council of the United States (SIECUS); Jennifer Heitel Yakush, public policy
director of SIECUS; and Leslie M. Kantor, MPH, director of national education
initiatives of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, the school board rammed
through a policy change that
makes children open to expulsion from school for expressing criticism of
transgender ideology.
The new regulation states: “No student in FCPS shall … on
the basis of gender identity … be denied the benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity.”
As Breitbart News reported, school board member
Elizabeth Schultz, who opposed the regulation, said “discrimination” language
means that a student who speaks out against the “gender identity” ideology can
be disciplined, and presumably suspended and even expelled.
Opposition to the Obama-promoted gender fluidity
narrative has taken hold, however.
A federal judge in Texas has ruled against
Obama’s decree that public schools must allow students and teachers to decide
which of the two sexes’ private bathrooms they desire to use at any given
moment.
Led by Texas, 13 states sued the U.S. Departments of
Education, Justice, Labor, and other federal agencies in U.S. District court,
arguing that both Title IX and Title VII (which refers to employers) refers
only to biological sex.
Judge Reed O’Connor said that, in issuing the directive,
the Obama administration did not “follow the proper legal procedure,” and
further stressed that “the Constitution assigns these policy choices to the
appropriate elected and appointed officials.”
In June, more than 60 leaders concerned about the mental
health of American children signed onto an open
letter that asserts the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom
decree for schools is “putting the nation’s children at risk.”
“This controversial and reckless government overreach
increases the risk for our children’s safety and privacy in deference to an
un-tethered notion of rights,” the signers wrote. “This policy rejects the
scientific reality of every person’s biological sex. To force all Americans to
comply with such an extreme and faulty premise – that every person’s sex is ‘assigned’
to them, rather than simply identified at birth – is beyond the pale.”
Additionally, a new report by renowned
psychiatrists Dr. Paul McHugh and Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer reveals that most
children and teens who say they are transgendered change their minds and grow
up according to their biological sex.
West Virginia University
E. Gordon Gee is
the president of the West Virginia
University, and a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development.
Note: Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is Daisy M. Soros’s brother-in-law.
C. Gregg
Petersmeyer was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and a board member for the Points of Light.
Michelle Nunn
was the CEO for Points of Light, and
a board member for Be the Change.
Kevin Jennings
was the president & CEO for Be the
Change, and the founder & executive director for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
Holland &
Knight LLP was the lobby firm for the Gay,
Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
Ronald J. Klein
is a partner at Holland & Knight LLP,
and a trustee at the Committee for
Economic Development.
Shirley Ann
Jackson was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, a professor at Rutgers University, and is an executive committee member for the Council on Competitiveness.
Lucas J. Visconti
is a trustee at Rutgers University, a co-founder for
the DiversityInc, and a co-founder
for the DiversityInc Foundation.
E. Gordon Gee was
a member of the Council on
Competitiveness, is a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and the president of the West Virginia University.
Daisy M. Soros is
George Soros’s sister-in-law, and a leader’s
council member for the Breast Cancer
Research Foundation.
Joan
H. Tisch is a leader’s council member for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and a lifetime trustee at the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
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