During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) discussed LGBTQ+ student protection.
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00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word and speak in
00:03opposition to HR 2016. You're recognized. Thank you. This bill is yet another
00:10attempt by my colleagues to insert the federal government into public school
00:13classrooms by micromanaging educators and harming, once again, LGBTQI students. I
00:19can't implore my colleagues more, please stop picking on trans and LGBTQ
00:25students. All parents want their children to learn in safe and affirming
00:30environments. Instead of working to truly keep students safe in school, this
00:35is an attempt to legislate parent-child relationships. I'm a mom. We never take
00:40our parent hat off when we're policy makers, and even though my kids are
00:44grown, I just want to say I worked very hard to build a good relationship with my
00:48children, so they felt comfortable coming to me about anything, but unfortunately
00:52that doesn't happen all the time, and it doesn't happen in all parent-child
00:57relationships. That's not something that we can legislate. School should be a place
01:02where all children feel safe to live and learn as their authentic selves. Childhood
01:07and adolescence are important times for growth and development, and sometimes a
01:12school is the place where students feel safe. And although, as I said, many
01:17transgender and non-binary students have supportive parents, and I've spoken with
01:21many of them, this is unfortunately not always the case. Students may fear negative
01:27repercussions or even outright abuse at home if their gender identity or chosen
01:32name becomes known to family members. Forcing schools to out students to their
01:37families is not only unnecessary, it's likely to be dangerous for students' mental
01:42health and well-being. And I just point to the high percentage of homeless youth who
01:47are homeless because they were kicked out of their homes. Somewhere between 30 to 40% of
01:53homeless youth identifies LGBTQI. Transgender youth already face high hurdles, and
01:59research shows that these types of discriminatory policies are associated with
02:03poorer mental health and higher suicide risk among LGBTQI plus youth. We don't need
02:09adults in Congress making things worse for our nation's children. Additionally, just in
02:14implementation, it's unclear what counts as any school form under this legislation.
02:18Does that include attendance sheets, seating charts? Can teachers label student desks or put
02:24a name tag on the classroom door without fearing their school's federal funding may be revoked,
02:29which of course affects every student in the school or the district? Requiring schools to attain
02:34parents' consent before using a student's preferred names or pronouns is frankly ridiculous. Any child who
02:41chooses to use a nickname would be affected by this legislation. So if my colleague, the chairman
02:48of this committee, Mr. Walberg, were an elementary school student, would he have to submit a request
02:52for a teacher to call him Tim instead of his legal name Timothy? We don't know. This is a needless
02:57requirement that further burdens educators and school staff. Again, we should be focusing on policies and
03:03improve our system of public education and make it accessible and fair for everyone, not targeting a very small
03:10handful of students who want to use a different name or pronoun. And for this reason, I urge my
03:15colleagues to oppose this legislation and I yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentlelady.
03:21Now I recognize the gentlelady from Illinois, Representative Miller. Thank you, Chairman Walberg.
03:27I strongly support the Protect Kids Act, a much-needed step to