New Trans Policy Creating Confusion on Campus

SAN ANGELO — During mandatory meetings Monday, Angelo State University faculty members were told the new transgender policy they’re required to adhere to would not be provided to them in writing.

It is our understanding that similar meetings were held at all of the Texas Tech University System campuses.

According to one person who attended the meeting at ASU, specifics were few and far-between.

Our source said the meeting, which lasted almost two hours, was mostly consumed by question-and-answer time after the initial policy was explained.

In characterizing the answers supplied by administrators, our source said most questions were redirected around to the main talking point, which says faculty “cannot discuss anything that implies there are more than two genders; cannot discuss any Transgender content, and beyond that, we were told they would have to get clarification from the lawyers.”

According to our information, professors asked many curriculum-specific questions which administrators, again, did not have exact answers for.

Nothing on Paper

It was noted that, unlike just about every other policy in the history of American universities, the new Texas policy is verbal-only at this point, frustrating efforts to fully understand everything that might be entailed by the changes.

“We expected lawyers to be there,” our source said. “So we were all very surprised there weren’t any there, because it seemed like an appropriate meeting for them to attend.”

Administrators offered no insight as to how the policy will be monitored going forward, our source said.

“Are the students supposed to report this? Or, is there going to be increased surveillance on campus? — we had a lot of questions, but we didn’t get any information about how things were going to be supervised.”

“Faculty members requested some kind of copy of Best Practices that they could go by — several requested that actually — and were told [administrators] would have to get back to them on that,” the meeting attendee said.

A Dark Turn

According to our source, at one point, a directive from the dean was met with disagreement from department heads regarding their understanding of the policy, further confusing the situation, which ended with an agreement to get clarification from attorneys on that point.

The question at hand was whether instructors are supposed to sanitize curriculums of all LGBT+ references, or only subject matter mentioning anything other than the existence of male and female humans.

“One colleague stood up and asked what the next step would be? … if they were planning to ban LGBT teachers from teaching, and they didn’t really have an answer for that.”

“Things kind of took a dark turn at that point,” our source continued, “That wasn’t in any of the documents or emails they sent us before, and we were all shocked.”

Our source said the feeling in the room changed palpably, as tempers flared.

“We thought it was just going to be Trans references, and now there saying all LGBT references have to go — that’s a whole different ballgame. There are some subjects, like art and theater, where you’d have to eliminate a significant portion of the curriculum to comply with this — It’s outrageous!” they said.

“One colleague stood up and asked what the next step would be? … if they were planning to ban LGBT teachers from teaching, and they didn’t really have an answer for that,” our source said, “So, we don’t really know what to expect, and don’t really have clear guidance on what we can and can’t do, other than the main talking point, which was not implying there are more than two genders, and we’re supposed to call them by their legal name”

Preferred Names

Our source explained the policy is likely to create confusion, because of conflicts between the university records system and the learning management system, noting that all kinds of students have a preferred name.

“You’re talking about every Fred, or DeeDee or Tony,” they said, “So now were worried about how to apply this consistently, or about getting in trouble for calling someone the wrong name — you know, we have lot of international students who choose an American style name when they come here, because it makes fitting in easier.”

Why Now?

Our source also allowed there was a general consensus that this policy had been rushed into place following events at Texas A&M, as a preemptive action against a similar occurrence, which has put that school under the microscope of national news.

They also allowed there was some concern about the direction Texas universities are heading, in terms of national standing and accreditation in the long term.

Last week The Concho Observer reported on the new guidelines being communicated to ASU faculty. As provided, these new rules were as follows:

• There is to be no discussion of transgender topics or any topics that suggest there are more than two genders as determined by one’s biological sex at birth.
• Information in syllibi about transgender topics must be removed.
• Instructors must refer to students by their given names and not their preferred names.
• Safe-space stickers, LGBTQ flags, etc. are not allowed and must be removed. 
• All employees are to remove pronouns from email signatures.
• The university will not back up or defend faculty who teach these topics or discuss them in class.

ASU’s official response to our request for comment was “Angelo State University is a public institute of higher education and is therefore subject to both state and federal law, executive orders and directives from the President of the United States, and executive orders and directives from the Governor of Texas. As such, Angelo State fully complies with the letter of the law.”

The Concho Observer has requested a copy of the new policy, and other documents about the policy, from the Texas Tech University System through the Texas Public Information (Open Records) Act.

The Actual Letter of the Law

But the policies as communicated to ASU Faculty this week go way beyond what is strictly required by the law.

On his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Trust to the Federal Government.“

It is important to remember that executive orders are simply instructions to the executive branch about what the administration’s policy will be. They do not have the force of law and can be modified, rescinded or revoked by the next administration.

The order states, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes male and female,”instructing, “the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality” setting out definitions of words like sex, male, female, men, boys, women, girls etc.

It directs the Secretary of Health & Human Services to provide the U.S. Government, and the public, clear guidance on the sex- based definition within 30 days.

It also directs federal employees to enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protection, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes, and requires agencies to use the word “sex” and not “gender” in any federal policies or documents.

It does not appear to abridge any student or faculty member’s right to discuss the subject.

Also, since the Texas Tech University System and Angelo State University are not federal agencies, this executive order would not apply to them.

In Texas

In support of Trump’s executive order, Gov. Greg Abbott penned a letter on Jan. 30 of this year: 

“Section 2 of the President’s Executive Order provides that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” This understanding “shall govern all … application of Federal law.” And it confirms what my office has repeatedly stressed before.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the State, I direct you to follow state and federal law. All Texas agencies must ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices, and other actions comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes—male and female.

This letter is not an executive order, though it does include the statement “As Executive Officer of the State, I direct…” which might have led to some confusion. 

According to the Legislative Library of Texas, there have been no executive orders filed since Jan. 20 that directly relate to gender discrimination or barring transgenderism from being mentioned in a classroom. 

House Bill 229 

This letter was followed in the state legislature with HB 229, signed into law, establishing a state doctrine of definitions of sex, which matches the definitions laid out by the executive order almost to a word.

HB 229 was advertised as “The Women’s Bill of Rights” by Republican legislators, offering clarifications of the definitions of male and female, namely that a “woman” or “female” is defined as a person whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova.

The terms “Man” and “male” are subsequently defined as individuals whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.

Furthermore, the bill makes sure to specify that intersex people, or those born with genital or sex deformity, are not a “third gender”, and must legally be classified as one or the other. 

The bill did not clarify if, for instance, someone who was born with every other type of female anatomy except the ability to produce ova would still be considered a woman.

Or if someone born with every other indicator of male anatomy except the ability to fertilize the ova of a woman would still be considered a male. 

Senate Bill 12

The governor’s letter was also paired with SB 12, which amends Chapter A.28, of the Texas Education Code: 

“[P]rohibits a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or district or charter school employee from providing or allowing a third party to provide instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade.” 

The bill does clarify, however, that it was not meant to “affect a student’s rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 8, Article 1 of the Texas Constitution.” 

Learn more about about gay and trans rights here.