Check Male, Female or Non-Binary? DC Schools to Give Families Third Option for Child Gender
In the latest effort to push forward an LGBTQ agenda in education, the Washington, DC school district will become the first school district in the nation to let families select "non-binary" – rather than male or female – when indicating the gender of their child on enrollment forms.
The policy is set to go into effect for the 2019 school year, according to The Washington Post.
"Non-binary" is a term used to describe people who do not consider their gender identities strictly male or female.
DC school district officials say the move is a part of a broader effort to make sure that transgender and non-binary students feel welcome in classrooms. The enrollment forms will also inform teachers to know which students are non-binary in their classes, according to the Post.
We value the whole child at DC Public Schools, and have worked diligently to ensure our schools are safe and inclusive for all students, staff, and families," interim chancellor Amanda Alexander said in a statement. "Whether through policies, programs, affinity groups, or our enrollment forms, DC Public Schools is proud to be a leader in affirming, supporting and welcoming LGBTQ students."
But DC is not the only school district trying to reset the gender model. This fall, the Oregon Department of Education changed their school enrollment forms and allowed parents to select "X" if their children did not identify as male or female.
Public schools in Minneapolis also allow parents to let teachers and administrators know if their children do not identify as male or female.
School officials say they need to know the correct gender information on their students to ensure schools have enough resources available for non-binary students like gender-neutral bathrooms and extracurricular activities.
These efforts come as the Trump administration is attempting to do away with the official term of 'transgender' by changing the definition of gender to one of a biological condition determined at birth as either male or female.
As CBN News reported last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is leading an effort to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex.
Under it, a person's gender designation could not be changed once it was defined by the genitals a person is born with.
Under the Obama administration, the legal concept of gender was loosened through a series of decisions, recognizing gender as an individual choice and not one determined at birth.
The policy led to legal challenges concerning bathrooms, dormitories, single-sex programs and other areas where gender had previously been identified as either male or female.
