The Santa Ana Unified School Board in Orange County, California recently approved a policy that would allow transgender students to use the pronouns, name, restrooms, locker rooms, physical education classes, and athletic teams of their preferred gender—and directs staff to keep students’ transgender status private from parents unless authorized by the student.
The policy, which received unanimous support from the board on May 9, directs district counselors to work with transgender students to come up with an “identity support plan” to “specifically address the academic, extracurricular, safety, and social-emotional needs” for such students.
District staff are instructed to keep the plan, as well as information that may disclose a student’s transgender status, private—including from parents, legal guardians or other school personnel—unless the student has given staff permission to disclose such information, under the new policy.
If a student decides to “socially transition”—meaning they choose to live publicly according to their new gender identity—then they are allowed to use their preferred pronouns, gender, and name in classrooms and on all non-legal school documents such as yearbooks, school IDs, library cards, lunch cards, class rosters, diplomas.
Under the new policy, transgender students who choose to make such a transition are also allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms, and participate in the physical education classes, athletic teams and competitive sports teams of their preferred gender.
The same is true when it comes to overnight field trips.
Councilmember Hector Bustos said ahead of the vote that the policy is “suicide prevention.”
“This policy is quite literally going to save the lives of students,” Bustos said. “Every single one of our students deserves a learning environment that is safe and where students feel like they can express themselves ... and also [feel] like there is a school learning environment that supports them.”
President Carolyn Torres noted during the meeting that some district staff had already been doing such work with transgender students.
“I thank all the staff who have been doing this inclusive work without official policies. ... Now you can breathe a little lighter knowing that [this] work is okay,” she said.
One such teacher spoke during the meeting’s public comment in support of the policy.
“I know from experience and from my students that when we make inclusive policies to support our most marginalized students, that all our students are lifted up regardless of what their background in history is,” the teacher said. “One of my former students said ... [she doesn’t] know what [she] would have done without gender support [from me] in middle school and high school.”
However, not all district teachers support such policies.
District teacher and former Orange Unified School District board member Brenda Lebsack told The Epoch Times she disapproved.
“It’s intentional confusion,” she said.
