AZ: Hobbs shoots down anti-trans pronoun ban
Arizona Republicans seeking to restrict how trans and nonbinary students are spoken to by their teachers were sharply rebuffed by Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday, who vetoed a measure forcing teachers to secure parental permission before students could have their pronouns and chosen names respected.
“As politicians across the country continue to pass harmful legislation directed at transgender youth, I have a clear message to the people of Arizona: I will veto every bill that aims to attack and harm children,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter for Senate Bill 1001.
The bill would have barred teachers and school staff from referring to a student with pronouns or names inconsistent with their biological sex or given name, regardless of the student’s request. Only written parental permission could change that — but even then, a provision allowed for staff with a “religious or moral conviction” to continue to undermine the wishes of students and their parents.
Hobbs criticized the bill as a discriminatory attack and called on lawmakers to craft proposals that better address the challenges the state faces without hurting Arizonans.
“Instead of coming up with new ways to target and isolate our children, we should be working together to create an Arizona where everyone has the freedom to be who they are without fear of harassment or judgment,” she wrote on Twitter.
The measure continued hostility toward LGBTQ Arizona youth from GOP lawmakers, who last year joined a national wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to pass a trans athlete ban and gender-affirming surgery prohibition. This year has seen heightened discrimination, with Arizona Republicans introducing several measures to punish drag performances, keep trans students out of public school facilities and ban any books that mention any pronouns.
https://www.azmirror.com/2023/05/22/hobbs-shoots-down-anti-trans-pronoun-ban/
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