From the seriously-how-fucked-up-are-Kansas-lawmakers? dept.
Steve Williams reports:
Kansas senators have passed a bill that would essentially reward children for reporting trans kids who use certain restrooms and changing facilities.
[…]
The bills – Senate Bill 513 and House Bill 2737 – collectively known as the “Student Physical Privacy Act,” allege that a “natural” concern over student privacy exists. The act would dictate that students can only access changing facilities that accord with their sex.
Rat out your fellow students and earn money!
In a provision that has shocked LGBT rights advocates, the bill then states that students who make such a legal complaint stand to gain a high financial payoff:
Statutory damages in an amount of $2,500 for each instance in which the aggrieved student encountered a person of the opposite sex while accessing a public school or post secondary educational institution student restroom, locker room or shower room designated for use by the aggrieved student’s sex.
Read more on Care2.
Similar issue was brought up in Washington Post about how researchers want the federal government to have schools ask students about their sexual orientation for data purposes.
Article link here… https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/should-schools-ask-students-about-their-sexual-orientation-to-protect-lgbt-rights/2016/03/27/0b484eaa-f3b5-11e5-89c3-a647fcce95e0_story.html
Quote from the article:
Researchers are calling on the federal government to begin collecting information about LGBT students’ experiences at the nation’s schools, arguing that such data collection is necessary to protect against disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion.
“When we fail to ask questions about youths’ sexual orientation and gender identity, we fail to understand, support, and protect all students from discrimination in schools,” wrote a group of researchers in a brief paper published Sunday by Indiana University’s Equity Project.
This is another example of “Mind your own fucking business”
No, it’s not really a similar issue. One is data collection to inform policy. The other is ratting out students in ways that will cause them harm.
Got it. I still think they are both very bad ideas.
Er… no. Minorities generally do not get assistance or accommodations until there are studies demonstrating numbers and need. Not looking into a problem is a surefire way of continuing the status quo of under-serving certain populations.