Story at a glance
- Grapevine High School students on Friday walked out of their third-period classes to protest a slate of new school district policies they say are transphobic.
- The new policies ban lessons about gender identity and sexual orientation for students younger than the fifth grade and allow school district personnel to misgender transgender students.
- The policies also restrict bathroom use for transgender students and allow trustees to challenge library books, which may be banned from district libraries for longer than a decade.
Students at a northern Texas high school on Friday staged a walkout to protest a slate of new policies adopted by their school district this week that restrict educators’ ability to teach lessons about race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Grapevine High School students walked out of their classrooms during third period on Friday afternoon, waving a large Progress Pride flag and carrying poster board signs with phrases like “Equality in education for all!” and “You can’t erase history.”
On Monday, trustees of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District (GCISD) approved a set of controversial policies that prevent teachers of students younger than the fifth grade from engaging in classroom instruction related to sexual orientation, gender identity and race, including lessons about critical race theory and other “systemic discrimination ideologies.”
The policies also enable school district personnel to misgender transgender students – even if the student’s parents request that their child be identified using a different name or pronouns – and prohibits transgender students from using facilities like restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
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“These policies are a reflection of Texas law and community values,” GCISD Trustee President Casey Ford said Monday, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Students at Grapevine High School, one of 21 schools in the district, on Monday said they disagreed with Ford and the three other trustees that had voted to adopt the new policies.
“Protect trans kids!,” Grapevine students chanted during the walkout.
Police attending the demonstration did not allow visitors or media on campus, according to the Dallas Morning News, but a small crowd of parents and supporters gathered on the sidewalk outside the school.
Under the new policies, library books considered “pervasively vulgar” or “obscene” or that promote subject matter that has been prohibited by law or the school district may be placed in a separate “parental consent area.”
Trustees, who now hold a conservative majority in Grapevine-Colleyville, under the policy changes are also able to review and challenge library materials more easily.
Challenged titles that, after an official review, are deemed appropriate for students will not be reconsidered for removal for at least a year, while books that are removed will not be reshelved for at least 10 years. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas called the changes “draconian.”
Texas Republicans, meanwhile, have rallied around the new policies.
“Grapevine-Colleyville ISD is the ONLY school district in the state that has passed a policy relating to CRT, real pronouns, bathroom access, and removing porn from libraries,” reads a state GOP fundraiser on WinRed, a fundraising platform endorsed by the Republican National Committee.
Donors are encouraged to help bring “common sense back” to classrooms in each of the state’s more than 1,000 public school districts.
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