A bill to prohibit public school employees from calling students by their preferred name or pronoun without written permission from a parent advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday.
House Bill 1468 by Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, would require a teacher to have written permission from a parent or guardian to address a student by a pronoun “inconsistent with the unemancipated minor’s or student’s biological sex,” or a name other than the one listed on the birth certificate. The bill also would prohibit public schools and universities from punishing staff for not using a student’s preferred name or pronoun.
Long said the bill would protect the right of conscience for public school staff who do not want to use a student’s preferred pronoun or name, and it would require parents to be notified if students ask a teacher to refer to them by a name or pronoun that is not on their birth certificate.
The committee passed the bill through a voice vote, sending it to the Senate for action. The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this month.
The bill has drawn a rebuke from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and Arkansas Advocates for Family and Children, who have said the bill is aimed at transgender students, many of whom are bullied and suffer from depression and anxiety.
“House Bill 1468 would give free rein to faculty members, teachers, and employees of public schools and state supported higher educational institutions to disregard and disrespect students’ names and pronouns, thereby inviting them to out trans students publicly to their peers,” ACLU of Arkansas President Holly Dickson wrote in a letter to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “It would also limit the speech of school employees who wish to affirm a trans student’s gender identity.”