The ACLU of Texas has filed federal civil rights complaints against two North Texas school districts because of new policies approved last week that are aimed at transgender students.
The ACLU of Texas has filed federal civil rights complaints against two North Texas school districts because of new policies approved last week that are aimed at transgender students.
The ACLU, along with multiple other advocacy organizations, wants to see investigations into Keller ISD for its new policy that bans library books at all grade levels that include the topic of “gender fluidity” and the Frisco ISD for its new policy that restricts bathroom usage to bathrooms that align with a student’s biological sex.
Both new policies amount to unlawful sex discrimination, according to the complaints that were filed on Monday.
In Keller, its school board members voted 4-2 to include “gender fluidity” on a list of topics that should be prohibited in district libraries.
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The ACLU cites in its complaint that Keller ISD board president Charles Randklev noted that the guidelines are “to protect children from sexually-explicit, age-inappropriate instructional materials.”
That kind of policy “seeks to erase transgender and non-binary identities,” according to the complaint, and is “discriminatory on its face.”
In Frisco, its school board members changed district policy to emphasize that multiple-occupancy bathrooms “shall be designated for and used only by persons based on the person’s biological sex.”
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“When transgender students are excluded from using facilities that match who they are and are separated from all other students, the mental health outcomes can be catastrophic,” the complaint notes.
A Frisco ISD spokesperson confirmed for The Dallas Morning News that it does allow for accommodations for students whose families request them and estimated that there are fewer than 50 such accommodations for the 40,000-plus students in Frisco’s 12 high schools.
“We very much hope that the Office of Civil Rights will quickly open an investigation and take all necessary remedial steps,” the ACLU noted in its complaint.
