A Republican state lawmaker has suggested she’ll file legislation that would require “gender-appropriate professional attire for public school employees.” What happened to being the party of freedom?
Rep. Erin Paré, who represents Wake County, said on social media that the legislation would “protect children from being exposed to more complex and mature gender-identity questions and concepts at too young of an age.”
Paré said she has received calls and emails from parents concerning a transgender music teacher at a local elementary school who “dresses like a woman.” It’s a ridiculous proposition for many reasons.
How, exactly, would such a law be written and enforced? What constitutes “gender-appropriate” clothing, and more importantly, why should that be something that the government is litigating? It sounds ripe for a legal challenge.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that discrimination against gay and transgender employees is unconstitutional, because discrimination “based on sex” also includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Another decision from 1989 established that gender stereotyping — such as expecting women to dress and act “femininely” — counts as sex discrimination in the workplace, too.
The other problem with this proposal is that it suggests that it’s okay for school employees to be transgender, as long as they hide it. Which is really saying that it’s actually not okay for them to be transgender at all.
It’s bigotry dressed up as concern, and it comes far too close to suggesting that transgender people shouldn’t be hired to teach in public schools in the first place. It implies they are somehow a threat to children simply for being who they are, and whether they are actually a good teacher matters less than their identity and how they choose to express it.
But this isn’t just about LGBTQ+ rights. It’s also about freedom of expression. Someone’s gender should not dictate what they are allowed to wear, and the idea that some types of clothing are exclusive to only half the population is antiquated. It shouldn’t matter if a man wants to wear a skirt, just as it shouldn’t matter if a woman wants to wear a suit and tie. So long as that attire conforms with what is generally considered to be “appropriate,” as in not overly casual or revealing, teachers should be able to wear whatever they want.
Conservatives who claim to value personal freedom and small government shouldn’t be in the business of making laws about clothing. But maybe it was never really about freedom to begin with. Maybe that “freedom” is absolute when it comes to the things they agree with, but conditional when it comes to the things they don’t like. Unfortunately for Republicans, they don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Constitution to uphold.
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