New Mexico school district enables ‘trans’ student’s sexual misconduct, undermines parental rights
New Mexico parents pulled their daughter from a Santa Fe school over sexual misconduct by a male student identifying as female and Liberty Counsel is urging the school district to revise its policies.
Liberty Counsel says parents pulled their daughter from a Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPC) school after repeated incidents of sexual misconduct by a male student who identifies as female.
In a letter to SFPC, the legal group says school staff dismissed the behavior as “normal” for a gender transition and told the parents their daughter needed counseling to be more accepting.
According to Liberty Counsel, the district’s Title IX coordinator quickly closed a sexual harassment charge, while school staff and SFPC upheld school district policy allowing “transgender” students access to restrooms and locker rooms that do not match their actual sex.
Liberty Counsel gave SFPC until Jan. 30 to resolve the situation and correct its policies, promising further action if the school district does not respond.
After two New Mexico parents withdrew their daughter from a Santa Fe public school over ongoing sexual behavior on the part of a male student who identified as female, nonprofit legal organization Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) on behalf of the family Jan. 9 and demanded that it correct the situation and its policies on “gender identity.”
According to the letter, the male student began publicly exposing and touching his genitals in front of the girl, prompting the parents to meet with a teacher, the principal of the school, and a counselor regarding their concerns about the student’s behavior. However, the school staff “dismissed their concerns and labeled the boy’s behavior ‘normal’” for someone undergoing a “gender transition,” Liberty Counsel stated in a news release. The names of the school, staff, parents, and students, as well as the girl’s age and grade, have been redacted.
School staff also told the parents that the male student had access to girls’ restrooms and locker rooms as mandated by SFPS policy. According to the letter, the counselor added that the girl, instead of the male student, needed counseling to be more accepting of “transgender” students.
After the parents took their concerns to SFPS officials and the district’s Title IX coordinator and filed a charge of sexual harassment with the coordinator, the coordinator closed the case in a week and normalized the male student’s behavior, the letter states.
Liberty Counsel now asks SFPS to discipline students who engage in sexual misconduct and cut its policies that require teachers to keep secrets about their students’ “transitions” or allow “transgender” students to use female spaces. The legal organization argues that SFPS’ policies violate parental rights and force the girl “to live in a manner contrary to the ‘moral standards’ and ‘religious beliefs’ that her parents hope to ‘inculcate.’”
In the letter, Liberty Counsel requested a response by Jan. 30 and warned that failure to comply would result in “additional action to prevent continuing harm to the rights of students and their families.”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated in the release: “The deliberate indifference by Santa Fe Public Schools toward sexual misconduct and the safety and wellbeing of female students violates Title IX and ignores morality and biological reality.”
“Requiring a female student to be exposed to the genitals of the opposite sex in class and other intimate settings such as a locker room is morally reprehensible,” he continued. “Gender policies that ratify sexual harassment and force parents to withdraw their children from school over debilitating psychological, mental, and emotional distress is a clear violation of parental rights. SFPS should eliminate these policies immediately to protect children.”
