Three LGBTQ+ advocacy groups — Youth OUTright, PFLAG Asheville and Campaign for Southern Equality — have started the process of filing a Title IX complaint against the Buncombe County Board of Education in response to policies passed to adhere to the state’s new “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
The complaint, filed by the Buncombe County Title IX coordinator, alleges the policies enforced by the Parents’ Bill of Rights singles out LGBTQ+ students, stigmatizing and alienating them from their heterosexual or cisgender counterparts.
Supportive Schools Director at the Campaign for Southern Equality Craig White addressed the school board shortly after the complaint was filed.
“We file this complaint more in sorrow than in anger,” he said. “It was clear that the BCS policy committee did what they could to reduce the harm caused to LGBTQ young people by S.B.49. But less harm is not no harm, and after hearing the testimony of students, families, and educators, it was clear that we have to take all possible steps to prevent the provisions in this discriminatory state law from going into effect in Buncombe County.”
SB 49, also known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, was passed into law in August, and it censors LGBTQ-related content from school curriculum, as well as forces educators and staff to “out” LGBTQ+ students to parents. The Buncombe County Board of Education met on December 7 and passed several policies to comply with the new state law, which goes into effect in January.
The complaint filed by the three organizations requests the school district to delay the implementation of its new policies until a determination is made on whether the law violates Title IX. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex,” and according to the Buncombe County filing, the groups plan to file a federal Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights in January.
“SB49 … is a cruel attempt to stigmatize and marginalize LGBTQ children, faculty and their families in the state,” PFLAG Asheville Board member KT Morales said. “The policies passed recently in the Buncombe County School Board violate our children’s rights to a safe and non-discriminatory environment in schools.
“Asheville PFLAG will continue to advocate alongside the Campaign for Southern Equality and Youth OUTright to ensure the civil rights of our families are upheld.”