Government should not force transgender and non-binary students to deny who they are
Re: "I use people's preferred pronouns out of respect. Not because the government said so," by Cameron Smith, June 14.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." −Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I thank Cameron Smith for his column on the role of government and people’s pronouns for two reasons.
First, we both agree it is respectful to use people’s pronouns. Second, I am grateful when social conservatives explain their positions. When these issues come up in the Legislature, we get the raw exercise of power with little discussion.
We differ on whether government entities should require the use of a person’s pronouns in some settings. Rather than an abstract question, the issue is quite focused in Tennessee. Transgender and non-binary public school students are regularly on the hostile end of state legislation.
In particular, we should consider the 2023 law that says school personnel do not have to use a student’s pronouns and the 2024 law that says that students who request an accommodation for their gender identity such as pronouns will be outed to their parents. We have a state government going into battle against trans and non-binary students via their pronouns.
Students are better served by policies that respect their identities. They are at school to get an education without barriers, not to serve as an opportunity for adults to exercise virtue by choice. Experiencing an agent of the state using the wrong pronoun in front of one’s peers day after day is something students should not endure. Government employees should not have more of a right to define a student’s identity than the student does.
Chris Sanders of Nashville 37221 is executive director, Tennessee Equality Project and Tennessee Equality Project Foundation. His pronouns are He/him.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: LGBTQ rights: Pronouns matter, but Tennessee targets students' freedom
