Parental pushback delays new CCSD transgender policy

Government bodies have violated Nevada open meeting law in many ways over the years. The offenses usually aren’t as blatant as the one Thursday by the Clark County School Board.

For months, the Clark County School District has been laying the groundwork for a far-reaching policy that would let students select their own gender. Hundreds of people have attended previous meetings on this issue. However, on Thursday, trustees scheduled a vote on whether to move forward with the policy at a location that seats only 100.

CCSD officials knew the room wasn’t big enough to seat everyone interested, so they reserved half the seats for each side. That meant CCSD officials kept people from entering a public meeting based on their political opinion. That is outrageous.

It got worse.

Karen England, director of the Nevada Family Alliance, said the overflow room was filled and the lobby was so full the fire marshal made 100 people wait outside. After speakers raised concerns, Trustees Kevin Child and Chris Garvey walked out of the meeting, not wanting to condone an open meeting law violation. Good for them.

Eventually, the CCSD’s attorney had to acknowledge the meeting violated the law. Board President Deanna Wright pulled the transgender policy item from the agenda.

The CCSD is pushing this policy forward under the guise of state anti-bullying law. That’s a sham. Nevada already has one of the strongest anti-bullying laws in the country. Transgender activists are using a bait-and-switch scheme to claim that keeping a biological boy out of a girls’ locker room is bullying.

No. That’s common sense based on biology.

To be sure, there is bullying — in the way some transgender advocates attack anyone who expresses concern about their agenda.

At one meeting last year, a transgender advocate told policy opponents, “Blood is on your hands.” At a January meeting, an advocate tried to claim that “98 percent of people in opposition are white.” Members of the Hispanic community, who have been leading the opposition, gasped and responded with calls of “I’m not white” and “That’s racist.”

That wasn’t even the most racist attack by a transgender activist. In January, Trustee Linda Young surprised everyone by not supporting moving forward with the creation of a policy. “Linda Young is a waste of time. It is not acceptable to pushe (sic) this policy off and kick the can down the road. She’s just ‘uncle tomming’ this decision,” the Transgender Allies Group tweeted after the meeting.

Young is African-American. I called TAG out for its racist attack. TAG wrote, “You have stated your opinion. I have stated mine.” Unbelievably, Trustee Carolyn Edwards then retweeted TAG’s defense of its racist attack on Young. You can imagine how different the reaction would have been if Edwards was a conservative.

Transgender activists have resorted to bullying because the public doesn’t support their radical ideology. A random survey of 2,200 Clark County residents conducted by the Nevada Family Alliance showed 70 percent said the CCSD doesn’t need a new policy. Sixty-eight percent said a biological male shouldn’t be allowed to use a girls’ bathroom.

The School Board may or may not have the votes to move this policy forward, but Thursday’s underhanded tactics proved they know they don’t have the public’s support. Parents should demand that every candidate for the School Board, the Legislature and governor make their feelings on this issue known and vote accordingly in November.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen to him discuss his columns each Monday at 9 a.m. with Kevin Wall on 790 Talk Now. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.