Senators Debate Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity In Schools

Though it’s still early, issues of gender identity have been prominent in the legislative session this year, and the Senate Education committee took up the issue in their meeting Thursday.

Discussion on Senate Bill 154 took up most of the 30 minute meeting. The bill would prohibit public schools from requiring students to participate in sexual orientation instruction. 

But the bill also has requirements that school staff must report a student’s request for an accommodation that is intended to affirm the student’s gender identity, such as using preferred pronouns, to parents and guardians. The bill further allows for parents and guardians to bring civil action against the public school if impacted by a violation of the new law.

Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, questioned several aspects of the bill and expressed concern that the bill’s language would disallow sex education in West Virginia’s schools. Garcia, who is a lawyer, also raised the issue of opening up opportunities for litigation based on what he called the bill’s unclear language. 

“I just think this bill creates a lot of issues and a lot of headaches for teachers and administrators that it doesn’t need to,” Garcia said. “I really don’t see a problem, and it seems to be, again, focused on some of the most vulnerable people and children.”

Committee chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, is the bill’s sponsor. She presented an identical bill, Senate Bill 515, last year and successfully advanced it through the education committee. However the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to take up the bill.

In response to Garcia, Grady said she took her right to make decisions for her children very seriously, and wanted to ensure that right was protected for all parents. 

“It just says you cannot confirm or affirm a child’s feelings, mental health feelings of ‘I feel that I’m another gender,’ without making that be a parent’s decision,” Grady said. “And I think we need every parent to have that right to make that decision for their child.”

Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, and Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, offered an amendment to tweak the language of the bill to require reporting in cases where a student requests an accommodation that is intended to affirm a change in the student’s gender identity, if different from the student’s biological sex. The bill does not establish any prohibition for the language school staff may use with parental approval.

After a discussion about whether nicknames like ‘Joey’ for ‘Joseph’ would trigger the bill’s reporting requirement, Oliverio asked if the shift in language to ‘change in gender identity’ made Garcia more comfortable.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’d be comfortable, I’m not comfortable with the bill,” Garcia said. “To be very clear, I’m pointing out things that I do think are problematic from the standpoint of even bringing this bill in front of the body.”

The amendment was approved, and the committee ultimately recommended the bill to the full Senate. Under the original double committee reference, the bill now heads to the Judiciary Committee.

The committee also approved two other bills Thursday without discussion. Senate Bill 37 would allow certain teachers to to exchange unused leave for monetary compensation. 
Senate Bill 158 modifies eligibility requirements for serving as a member of the State Board of Education to more closely align with the requirements for county board members and limit partisan activity.