Republican lawmakers proposed two bills Wednesday: one to require school administrators to notify parents if their child begins a social gender transition in school, and the other to require transgender athletes to compete under the gender they were assigned at birth.
Legislators were joined for the news conference at the state Capitol by members of the Let Kids Be Kids coalition to request a public hearing before the education committee to discuss the two proposals.
The Let Kids Be Kids Act would require a member of a school’s staff to inform the parents if/when their child shows signs of a social gender transition in school. According to the group’s handout, one example that would trigger a notification would be a child’s use of different pronouns or changing their name.
The coalition said in a statement that a social gender transition is a psycho-social treatment to address gender dysphoria. The Mayo Clinic defines gender dysphoria as the “feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.”
The coalition said a social transition sets a child on a path of experimental use of medication – such as artificial hormones or puberty blockers – that is almost irreversible.
Leslie Wolfgang, director of Public Policy at the Family Institute of Connecticut, said during the news conference that parents are being deceived by the school system if they are not informed about their child showing signs of a social transition.
“Parents know their children best, they need to know this information in order to get the best care for their child,” Wolfgang said.
Asked how a school faculty member would go about informing a parent, especially when the family may not support the student’s gender change, Wolfgang said school districts should develop a policy that could require coordination between the school, parents, and professionals, including steps on how best to inform parents.
While the bill doesn’t touch on this aspect of the issue, Wolfgang said “it’s almost better than the current situation where a lot of these parents discover by accident.”
The main purpose of this proposed bill is to bridge the gap between parents, their kids, and the school systems, Wolfgang said.
Melissa Combs, founder of the Out Accountability Project, said outing students without their consent is a mistake.
“I want to know that, even when they may not be ready to share with me, that they have the support they need at school,” Combs said in a statement. “Outing students without their consent forces schools to intrude on family relationships like mine, taking away opportunities for important family conversations.”
The state Department of Education released guidelines in 2017 and again in January 2024 to help facilitate these matters.
The guidelines state that all school districts should create a safe space for transgender students.
“This can include providing resources to transgender students, such as identifying – and advising students and employees of – specific administration and staff members who can serve as contacts with whom students can discuss concerns or incidents, or can otherwise check in.”
The Save Women’s Sports Bill
The coalition is proposing a bill to only allows athletes to participate in sports within the gender they were assigned at birth.
“It’s a simple matter of fairness,” Mitch Bolinsky R-Newtown, said. “There are physiological differences that just make it dangerous, unfair, and if you want to do something to puncture the soul of a young female athlete, put her in a pool next to a boy.”
Combs, from the Out Accountability Project, says there’s a better way to support girls in athletics.
“If Connecticut truly wants to support girls’ sports, they would be providing more funding, creating more opportunities to play, and enacting stronger laws that protect female athletes from harassment and abuse – not banning transgender youth from participating in school sports with their peers,” Combs said.
In 2020, a group of female athletes filed lawsuit in federal court against the Connecticut Association of Schools, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, and several local school districts stating that it is unfair to biological females to have to compete against transgender women. That lawsuit has reached the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and prompted the coalition to propose this bill this year.
Title IX was made to protect women in sports, prohibiting bias and discrimination based on gender. The coalition says allowing transgender women to compete against biological women is a violation of Title IX, but the U.S. Department of Education has gone in the direction of supporting transgender athletes.
The department proposed a change to Title IX in 2023 that says “the proposed rule would establish that policies violate Title IX when they categorically ban transgender students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity just because of who they are.”
States have differing laws on transgender athletes. According to the CIAC handbook, student-athletes are allowed to compete with the gender they identify with, which is something the coalition wants to change.
This proposed bill would address high school sports and require transgender boys and girls participate in sports within the same gender they were assigned at birth.
