A new Iowa state legislature bill would require school officials and professors to get parents’ approval before giving students a nickname that doesn’t match their birth certificate sex.
The bill was submitted last week, and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds supports it. Both chambers of the Iowa state legislature are controlled by Republicans. The bill is part of a nationwide movement to restrict or control gender expression and identity in and outside of the classroom.
Iowa Aims To Protect Children From Gender Identification
In addition to restricting nicknames, Senate Study Bill 1145 of the Iowa Senate would prohibit school districts from implementing any program, curriculum, material, test, survey, questionnaire, activity, announcement, promotion, or instruction relating to gender identity or sexual activity.
The bill is comparable to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, which prohibits the discussion of gender expression, identity, and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.
According to the language of the Don’t Say Gay bill, such discussions are neither age-appropriate nor developmentally acceptable for students.
Additionally, it would apply the ban on nicknames to all school-age students. According to Dr. Melanie Walsh, a psychology professor at the University of New Haven, the new rule risks further marginalizing trans and nonbinary kids.
Walsh stated that young children may not yet be aware that they are trans or nonbinary or have the language to communicate it. She stated that restrictions on gender expression in the classroom can foster a culture of fear. Walsh predicted that as a result of this, a rash of mental health difficulties will emerge. We know
that for trans and gender-nonconforming adolescents in particular, this aspect of school belonging is incredibly important since they spend so much time there. Consequently, the feeling of having nowhere to be oneself is very devastating.
Walsh anticipates that many youngsters in Iowa would internalize unpleasant emotions and self-hatred if this bill were to pass. It will also make it difficult for children to accept who they are.
She continued, And when you have so much self-hatred, it naturally leads to greater rates of despair, anxiety, and suicidality.
‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Names like Leslie, Taylor and Lindsay are associated with both men and women in the United States. One example is the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, who sits in the US Senate.
Moms for Liberty is a conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofit group whose mission is committed to fighting for the survival of America by uniting, educating, and enabling parents to preserve their parental rights at all levels of government. Moms for Liberty supports the Iowa bill.
This is not the first time that conservative groups have used parental rights as a justification for determining school policy.
Dr. Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a historian of gender studies at Case Western Reserve University, explains that during the 1960s, some parents opposed school integration because they perceived it as an extension of communism.
In the past, their option was to switch to homeschooling or private education, Rabinovitch-Fox said. Now, however, they insist on keeping their children in school while imposing conservative agendas on the public system.
Walsh asserts that when such legislation is proposed, it is essential to determine if the parental interest surpasses that of the kid.
Who do these laws actually protect? What exactly are these bills protecting? Because they surely do not safeguard the children that I believe legislators are attempting to protect Walsh remarked.
Read more: Microsoft launches new Bing powered by ChatGPT to some customers; What you need to know?
