A classroom at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps/Utah News Dispatch)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require parental consent before a public elementary or middle school can update a student’s pronouns, gender markers or preferred names in records to receive federal funding.
The measure – which succeeded 217-198 — would also prevent federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which provides federal aid to schools, from being used to “teach or advance concepts related to gender ideology.”
Eight Democrats split from their party to vote for the Republican-led initiative, including: Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Cleo Fields of Louisiana, Laura Gillen of New York, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state and Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
Fifteen members of the House of Representatives did not vote.
Parental consent
The bill also requires schools to obtain parental permission before modifying “gender-specific accommodations” to allow a student access to a locker room or restroom consistent with their gender identity.
Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said during floor debate that the measure “takes great steps to restore parental rights and sanity in education.”
The bill “affirms the right of parents to be responsible for the education of their children and ensures that schools remain partners in a child’s education” and also “sets clear guardrails to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to support learning and not to indoctrinate children with radical ideologies and agendas,” the Michigan Republican added.
Walberg co-led the bill with Rep. Burgess Owens, a Republican from Utah, who introduced a separate measure, later adopted, that bans the operate of federal funds “to teach or promote concepts related to gender ideology.”
The bill is based on a definition of “gender ideology” in a Implementing regulation of January 2025 signed by President Donald Trump.
The regulation defines “gender ideology” as “the idea that there is a broad spectrum of genders that are not linked to one’s own gender.”
GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, noted in a Fact sheet that “gender ideology” is “an inaccurate term used by opponents to undermine and dehumanize transgender and non-binary people.”
House Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups condemn bill
Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Panel, criticized the measure during floor debate, saying it would “impose a rigid federal mandate that ignores context, disregards student safety and prioritizes politics over people.”
The Virginia Democrat noted that the bill “bans any discussion of transgender people or issues in the classroom, including “banning books with transgender characters” or discussing “the existence of transgender people.”
Scott pointed out that the bill “takes control of education curricula away from states and localities – the very thing the current administration claims to be giving back to the states by illegally dismantling the Department of Education.”
Fears that students will be outed
Rep. Mark Takano, chairman of the Congressional Equality Caucus, criticized the bill before the floor debate as a “Don’t Say Trans bill.”
The California Democrat told States Newsroom he was concerned the measure would force school officials to release students to their parents, regardless of whether the official knew the student could be harmed.
Takano, who also sits on the House Education Committee, also expressed concern that in the case where parents support their child to operate different pronouns, “if the teacher uses a different pronoun, it could be interpreted as ‘promoting gender ideology.’
He said: “We cannot rule out that this government will use a maximalist interpretation of the law, which would even mean that “a student with supportive parents of transgender children” could not have the preferred nickname.
David Stacy, vice president of government affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, condemned the bill as “cruel” and noted that the LGBTQ+ advocacy group was “ready to fight it” in a statement shared with States Newsroom before the vote.
“Trans kids are not a political agenda – they are students who deserve protection and affirmation in school like everyone else,” Stacy added.
“Despite the many pressing issues facing our nation, House Republicans continue their bizarre obsession with transgender people,” he said.
