At the start of each school year, Brian Kerekes, a high school math teacher in Osceola County, Fla., has a list of questions he asks his students.
It always includes, what are your pronouns? But a new Florida law that emulates laws that have been passed in at least eight other states says that he would be free to ignore his students鈥� responses if they don鈥檛 align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
鈥淚 just want the kids to know that I respect them for who they are and what they bring to the classroom,鈥� he said.
Teachers and students don鈥檛 have to use students鈥� pronouns and names at school if they don鈥檛 align with the sex they were assigned at birth, under legislation passed by lawmakers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah since last year.
Teachers who spoke with Education Week said the laws risk endangering trusting relationships they have with their students and hyper-politicizing the teaching profession, which they say could dissuade prospective teachers from opting for a career in education.
All of the laws have been championed by Republican lawmakers, and are part of a larger, national push restricting the rights of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming students, whose access to school bathrooms and participation in school sports has also been limited in several states by state laws or district policies. The laws target a small subset of America鈥檚 public school students who already report experiencing higher levels of bullying and harassment at school than their cisgender peers and more challenges with their mental health.
However, proponents say the laws protect the First Amendment rights of teachers and the rights of parents to direct their children鈥檚 education.
鈥淐urrently, public schools have violated parental rights by leaving parents in the dark regarding their own children,鈥� state Rep. Lori VanWinkle, a North Dakota Republican, said during an April 3 House floor debate in support of a new law in her state that requires schools to inform parents if a student requests to go by pronouns or a name other than the one they were given at birth. 鈥淭he question before us is: are we going to protect parents鈥� rights, teachers, and government entities, or allow social ideologies to take precedence?鈥�
What the laws say
In Florida and Kentucky, teachers will no longer be required to use students鈥� pronouns or names if they do not correspond to their sex assigned at birth. , signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 17, requires public schools to pass policies declaring that a 鈥減erson鈥檚 sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person鈥檚 sex.鈥�
It not only allows teachers to refuse to use students鈥� pronouns if they don鈥檛 align with their sex assigned at birth, but also prohibits teachers from sharing their own pronouns if they don鈥檛 align with their sex assigned at birth.
Three other laws, in Indiana, North Dakota, and Utah, require teachers to notify parents if students identify as transgender, or鈥攁s passed in early May puts it鈥攗se pronouns 鈥渢hat correspond with their gender, not their sex.鈥� Iowa, which Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed May 27, similarly requires administrators to notify parents if a student asks to use a new name or pronouns.
The pronoun policy is among a package of changes that Reynolds characterized in a news release as 鈥渢ransformational education reform that puts parents in the driver鈥檚 seat, eliminates burdensome regulations on public schools, provides flexibility to raise teacher salaries and empowers teachers to prepare our kids for their future.鈥�
Finally, under a new Montana law, schools will not be able to punish students for intentionally or accidentally misgendering transgender students, or using their dead names (names trans people used prior to transitioning) unless it rises to the level of bullying.
This is not the first year a law restricting teachers from using trans and nonbinary students鈥� pronouns has passed. An requires counselors, teachers, principals and other administrators to inform a student鈥檚 parents if they disclose that they may be transgender.
A blow to teacher morale
For teachers, the pronoun laws bring up a host of concerns.
Nick Archuleta, a former high school teacher in Bismarck, N.D., and president of North Dakota United, the state鈥檚 teachers鈥� union, said the North Dakota law, which Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed May 8, takes away local control and threatens teacher-student relationships.
鈥淲e have in our country a system whereby we elect school boards because they鈥檙e the ones closest to the people that they鈥檙e serving in their districts,鈥� said Archuleta, who no longer works in the classroom after becoming the union鈥檚 president. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing here in North Dakota and in other states across the nation is what we believe is an overreach of authority.鈥�
In addition to the law that requires schools to notify parents about a student鈥檚 鈥渢ransgender status,鈥� the state recently passed other laws targeting transgender youth. Those laws prohibit trans youth from playing sports that align with their gender identity and seeking gender affirming care.
Taken together, the laws put teachers in a difficult position, in which they can no longer serve as a trusted confidant for students, Archuleta said.
鈥淚t really puts teachers in a bind,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e all know that good education is predicated on good relationships. We want students to be able to trust their teachers. We want students to be able to talk to their teachers or counselors about things that may be problematic for them at home.鈥�
Archuleta doesn鈥檛 buy the argument for parents鈥� rights that lawmakers have used to justify the bills.
鈥淭his is not anyone trying to usurp parental rights,鈥� Archuleta said. 鈥淚t is about trying to create an environment where a child feels safe and trusted and trusting so that they have the best opportunity to learn.鈥�
Many schools are feeling the impacts of teacher shortages, and enrollment in teacher preparation programs is lower than it was a decade ago. Laws that politicize the profession will ultimately further damage morale and threaten the education system as whole, said Chris Dier, a U.S. history teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, La.
鈥淧eople want to get into teaching because they want to make a change in their community, because they enjoy [spending] their time helping kids learn and grow,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut to have a profession so hyper-politicized, you can see why many people might avoid going into the classroom 鈥� So [the laws] don鈥檛 only have an impact on students and teachers, but also education as a whole.鈥�
A bill in Louisiana that passed the state House in early May would require teachers to use a student鈥檚 pronouns that align with the sex they were assigned at birth unless the student鈥檚 parents give school staff permission to do otherwise. But even with parent permission, the bill states that school employees cannot be required to use a student鈥檚 pronouns 鈥渋f doing so is contrary to the employee鈥檚 religious or moral convictions.鈥�
The bill is pending in the state Senate. Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the Louisiana legislature.
As pronoun policies make their way through state legislatures, the issue is also working its way through the federal courts.
In April, a divided appeals court upheld an Indiana school district鈥檚 2018 dismissal of a music teacher who refused to address transgender students by their first names and pronouns for religious reasons.
The teacher is by the full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
Teachers are worried about damage to students鈥� well-being
Indiana鈥檚 law started as a bill modeled on Florida鈥檚 so-called 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay鈥� law, outlawing instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for younger students. But into the version that Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law, prohibiting teachers from using a student鈥檚 name or pronouns if they are inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth without written permission from parents. It also requires schools to tell parents if their child requests such a change.
Samantha Wood, a high school English teacher in the Noblesville school district, is worried about teachers鈥� ability to follow the newly passed law while still respecting their students鈥� identities.
鈥淚 think in terms of impact, you鈥檙e going to see a lot of teachers end up either leaving the profession or leaving the district or even a state because they are going to have difficulty compromising,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to completely disregard a student鈥檚 wishes if that is genuinely how they feel, especially at the high school level when they already have a good idea of who they are as a person.鈥�
Wood cited that found that transgender students who reported that their school respected their gender identity were less likely to attempt suicide.
鈥淚f they don鈥檛 have any area of support, including at school, our suicide rates in that particular population skyrocket,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so I fear that this particular law is going to cause that number to go up.鈥�
In Florida, educators were already unsure whether they should avoid talking about students鈥� pronouns and gender identity due to state law restricting instruction on those topics. Then, lawmakers passed the law specifically addressing school employees鈥� use of students鈥� pronouns, which was part of legislation that extended a prohibition on instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation through 8th grade.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a concerted effort to diminish or even erase the LGBT community,鈥� Kerekes, the math teacher from Osceola County, said.
鈥淟ong term, my concern is that 鈥� if students who identify in various ways or who are not sure how they identify may not see any classroom as a safe space, that could exacerbate the mental health issues we鈥檙e already having in our schools.鈥�
Kerekes, who is also part of the LGBTQ+ community, displays a pride flag and a poster about LGBTQ+ identities in his classroom. He said he does not plan to remove those because of state law, nor does he plan to stop asking students what their pronouns are, because those actions send a message that his classroom is a safe space.
鈥淚 think that at the end of the day, if the parents and guardians maintain a dialogue with their educators, they鈥檒l find that we want to be supportive in any way that we can,鈥� he said.
