TN Teachers Could Start Using Students Bio Pronouns No Matter Their Identity

The bill says all public school teachers and other school employees would not be “subject to adverse employment action” for not using a student’s preferred pronoun if it does not match their sex.

04.28.22
TN Teachers Could Start Using Students Bio Pronouns No Matter Their Identity (Getty Images)

A Tennessee bill could allow teachers to use students’ biological pronouns instead of their gender identity. 

The bill says all public school teachers and other school employees would not be “subject to adverse employment action” for not using a student’s preferred pronoun if it does not match their sex. 

The measure may jeopardize federal funds for the state, according to the Tennessee General Assembly’s Fiscal Review Committee, should it become law.

Reports from a U.S. Senate subcommittee on education indicated the Biden administration considers discrimination based on gender identity to be illegal under Title IX. 

The state education department’s office for civil rights’ “power to prepare corrective action plans” to require schools to have its employees use a student’s chosen pronouns may also be limited by the measure, according to the committee.

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