Katy Independent School District, just east of Houston, is considering banning books about gender fluidity from some school libraries.
This comes about a year after the federal government opened an ongoing civil rights investigation into Katy ISD after the district passed a gender identity policy.
The proposal says that all elementary and junior high school libraries in the district would not be allowed to have books on shelves that are quote, "adopting, supporting or promoting gender fluidity," according to Houston Public Media.
Jonathan Covey is the Director of Policy for Texas Values. He explained what the term 'gender fluidity' means.
“Gender fluidity refers to change over time in a person's expression or their gender identity or both. And you know what I can tell you is it's really just not true. There's no scientific evidence showing that young children benefit from being taught in school about gender fluidity, about transgender identity or homosexuality, or that such teaching reduces child sex abuse in any way."
Roughly 90,000 students are enrolled in the Katy Independent School District.
This new policy says district employees cannot discuss gender-related issues with elementary and junior high students. They also cannot give students resources or information about it. They must also notify parents if a student decides he or she is transgender or asks to use the opposite sex's pronouns at school.
“What they’re saying is this material is not suitable or appropriate for younger children,” Brian Phillips, press secretary for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, tells AFN.
There could be grounds for keeping such material in libraries if the books had some sort of “clinical discussion” that explained gender fluidity, Phillips said.
But graphic depictions of sexual acts are “totally inappropriate to be in public school libraries,” he said.
Covey says KISD’s approach should be a model for other districts.
“This would be in the best interest of the students and in the best interests of providing a factual and accurate curriculum that's based on biology and isn't based upon politicization or political ideology of any kind. That’s what schools should be doing. They should be focusing on informing and teaching kids about the accurate facts of biology. And that's what Katy ISD seems to be trying to get at,” he said.
