Arizona lawmakers again target pronoun, shower, restroom usages in schools

PHOENIX — A Senate panel voted Wednesday to require teachers to contact parents if a student asks to be addressed by a pronoun that does not match their “biological sex.”

The measure, which now goes to the full Senate, also would require parental notification when a student asks to be addressed by something other than a first or middle name that is not listed on the official school record. The only exception would be a nickname “commonly associated with the student’s name of record.’’

SB 1166 was not the only proposal dealing with transgender and other gender issues in children that cleared the Senate Education Committee Wednesday on a 4-3 party-line vote.

The panel also voted to say that students must use showers that match their “biological sex”. In addition, SB 1182 says if a student can’t or won’t use that shower, then the school has to provide a “reasonable’’ alternative, defined as either a single-occupancy shower room or a shower room used by employees.

Both measures are variants of proposals that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed last year.

But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, has a fallback position: He got the same committee to also approve putting both issues to voters, a move that bypasses the need for gubernatorial blessing.

His SCR 1013 does not contain a parental notification requirement. But it does preclude a teacher from using a student’s preferred pronoun or name unless the school first gets written permission from a parent.

The other half of that measure takes the idea about single-sex showers and extends it to include restrooms, locker rooms and, in cases of overnight trips, sleeping quarters.

Kavanagh said he is convinced Arizonans want these restrictions, regardless of what Hobbs says.

“If all the polling I’ve seen is correct it’ll probably pass with 60, 65% of the voters who don’t really believe that this type of stuff should be going on in our schools,” he said.

Kavanagh’s measures aren’t the only effort to address gender issues.

Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, has introduced SB 1628, which would replace every reference to “gender’’ in state law to “sex,’’ with the former generally referring to how people see themselves versus the latter determined by sex as assigned at birth. It would spell out that, as far as the state is concerned, there are only two sexes.

No date has been set for a hearing on that proposal.

The approval of Kavanagh’s bill came after testimony from several transgender youths as well as their parents.

Samuel Kahrs described coming out at age 11.

“Nothing really changed until I came out to my teachers and asked them to call me Samuel and he and him pronouns,’’ he told lawmakers. “It was not until my teachers lovingly accepted who I was that I was able to be accepted at home by at least my mother.’’

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Kahrs said that for many transgender students, school is the only place they can feel safe.

“I have seen how emotionally draining it could be to be affirmed all day at school and then go home to be dead-named and misgendered,’’ he said. Kahrs said school can help.

“I remember the first day my teachers called me by Samuel,’’ he said. “And it was the best day of my life.’’

Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, said what’s lost in all that is there is a Parents Bill of Rights in Arizona law.

“It establishes the rights of the parents to direct the upbringing of their children,’’ she said, including their educational, emotional, medical and mental health issues.

“No other entity has a right to infringe on that right,’’ Wadsack said. “And if their child is doing something at school that could become alarming to their mental health care needs, they need to be notified so they can get involved.’’

She also called it “just a lie’’ that all transgender children do not have supportive parents.

Wadsack said there is no bias on her part, saying she has a gay child and that child has transgender roommates.

“Gender dysphoria is real,’’ she said, referring to the condition in which a person may have unease because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

“They require medical treatment which cannot be given to them through the schools,’’ Wadsack said. “Parents should have the ability to find out that their child has something going on so they can take them to the doctor and they can handle it.’’

Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, said she sees the measures through a different lens.

She told colleagues that the Senate begins each day with a prayer where lawmakers “profess our Christianity.’’

“This is not being a Christian and abiding by what the Lord wants us to do, to be respectful of every human being he made in the likeness of Himself,’’ Gonzales said.

“If we want to protect children, we have got to stop treating transgender children differently,’’ she said. “We need to treat all children with the same respect.’’

Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, who is a teacher, said lawmakers would use their time better by dealing with the real issues that schools have, ranging from retaining teachers to improving safety for students.