Friday, March 29, 2024

GISD subject of federal probe tied to transgender, LGBTQ+ treatment

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The Granbury Independent School District is the target of a federal investigation into sex discrimination.

The probe is believed to be the first federal civil rights investigation connected to a nationwide movement to ban school library books that deal with sexuality and LGBTQ+ issues.

Superintendent Jeremy Glenn was notified of the inquiry in a three-page letter sent by the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

The letter, dated Dec. 6, was accompanied by a three-page document titled “Data Request.” Fifteen requests for documentation were listed.

“The District is cooperating with appropriate entities and providing requested information responsive to the allegation,” GISD’s director of communications, Lissa Oliver, stated in an email to the Hood County News.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed in July by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. The organization accused GISD of violating federal law in its handling of certain books in school libraries.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits schools or education programs that receive funding from the federal government to discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, and sexual orientation.

The ACLU’s complaint cited a March report by NBC News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune that detailed a meeting Glenn held with district librarians last January. Someone recorded Glenn’s comments to the librarians and a copy of the recording was leaked.

During the meeting, Glenn instructed librarians to remove books that deal with sexual orientation and that feature transgender people, saying that “there’s no place for it in our libraries.”

The complaint detailed other comments by Glenn, including that any GISD employee whose political views differ from those of the “very, very conservative” community and school board had “better hide it.”

Glenn also referred to Gov. Greg Abbott, who threatened to prosecute anyone responsible for placing pornography in school libraries, and to now-former State Rep. Matt Krause, who sent to the Texas Education Agency and school superintendents a list of about 850 books that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”

According to the Texas ACLU’s complaint, 62% of the books on Krause’s list relate to LGBTQ+ issues or mention LGBTQ+ people, 14% relate specifically to transgender issues or mention transgender people, 14% relate to sex education, and 8% relate to race and racism.

“Superintendent Glenn referred to Rep. Krause’s list in his comments to librarians, emphasizing that they were certainly going to pull books on that list off Granbury shelves,” the complaint stated.

BOOKS REMOVED

In the days after the meeting, the school district launched what NBC News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune called “one of the largest mass book removals in the state, pulling 130 titles, most of which featured LGBTQ characters or themes.”

Although most of the books were returned to library shelves, the grievance states that two of the three books selected for removal by the district’s book review committee “were books about LGBTQ+ themes. One of them, This Book is Gay, was the book specifically mentioned by Superintendent Glenn in his remarks to librarians about book removals.”

The protest also states, “LGBTQ+ students in Granbury ISD, particularly transgender and non-binary students, plainly face discrimination in the district. The superintendent himself has made very public anti-LGBTQ+ remarks, linking them to the beliefs of the school board. And the school district has acted upon that rhetoric and those beliefs to purge representations of LGBTQ+ identity from district shelves.”

In a news release about the investigation, ACLU of Texas attorney Chloe Kempf said, “Public school districts cannot discriminate against students on the basis of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. By choosing to open this investigation in response to our complaint, the federal government is signaling that remedying discrimination against LGBTQIA+ students is a top priority and that school districts cannot deny students the right to be themselves in school, be it through book bans, discriminatory comments, or other harmful policies.”

In response to the HCN’s request for comment about the investigation, Oliver emailed that “all students in Granbury ISD are valued, supported, and cared for by an exemplary staff” and that the school district “is committed to remaining student-focused in all efforts to achieve district goals including academic growth and school safety.”