Idaho Government Signs Bill Giving Teachers the Freedom to Use Correct Pronouns without Being Sued or Fired

That's where we are now -- it takes a special act of a state legislature to give people permission to speak the obvious truth.

Idaho school districts soon will have to remove any requirements that teachers use transgender students' preferred pronouns.

Gov. Brad Little quietly signed House Bill 538 Monday. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, broadly enacts protections for public employees, including teachers, who are unwilling to use someone's preferred name and pronouns. It had overwhelming support among Statehouse Republicans.

The bill bars teachers from referring to a student by a name or pronoun that doesn't align with their birth sex, unless the teacher has parental consent. It also gives teachers the right to sue their district if they're disciplined for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred name or pronoun.

Little "supports policies that advance free speech and parental rights," and "this bill does both," Madison Hardy, the governor's spokeswoman, said by email. "While Gov. Little expects state employees to treat each other and members of the community with dignity and respect, he does not support government compelling speech at risk of penalty or excluding parents from significant decisions impacting a child's health and wellbeing."

Even though most news is bad, it's important to recognize that some people are fighting on the right side of history, and sometimes winning.

John Sexton notes this in an article about The Cass Review -- which called "transgender" therapy untested, unproven, and dangerous -- being published in the UK.

Even the leftwing gonzo-gay Labour Party was forced to admit that the Cass Review raised "very troubling" questions about the insane Rush to "Affirm" policy that was made up, Deborah-Birx-like, a few years ago with no evidence to support it whatseover.

Today, The Cass Review was released in the UK and the Labour Party was quick to say it agreed with all of its recommendations. Yvette Cooper, who holds the title of shadow home secretary, told an interviewed at Sky News she found the report "very troubling." That came as a shock to Telegraph columnist Madeline Grant.

Ms Cooper, blinking as if she was seeing daylight for the first time (perhaps the effect of all those years with her head in the sand) replied that the report's conclusions were "very troubling". This fire is very troubling, said the man with a box of matches and a jug of kerosene.

She could have said "we were wrong about this, I'm sorry we spent several years monstering everyone who raised the alarm -- especially within our own party". But she didn't. "Labour accepts all of the recommendations" she nodded sagely. Black was now actually black after all, and all those years that we said it was white are just water under the bridge.

...What was really important about the report, said Ms Cooper, was "not having all this get caught up in culture wars".

Ah yes, culture wars. Those low-status squabbles which only the Right ever indulges in and which only ever go one way. For example, "don't mutilate children!" = culture war. "Let's mutilate children!" = not a culture war.

As Grant points out, if it weren't for the "culture wars" (again, meaning resistance to whatever the left is pushing) there would never have been a Cass Review and the Labour Party would not now be saying it agreed with all of these conclusions. It's only because people pushed back (the culture warriors as the media frames it) that we've gotten to this point. And for that reason, the culture warriors deserve some credit and some praise.

Related: On Talk TV, the interviewer flatly refused to use a guest's stupid "they/them" pronouns.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:50 PM

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