Opinion: LCS Official Reference to “Gender Identity” has Important Implications

By Priscilla West

On November 14^th, Leon County School Board Chair Rosanne Wood moved to replace “gender” with “gender identity” in the district’s nondiscrimination statement.  The amendment was approved in a 4-1 vote, with only member Alva Striplin in opposition.  This seemingly innocuous change has important implications.

While Florida law no longer allows classroom instruction on the topic, the Board’s use of this language sends a clear signal that LCS subscribes to gender identity ideology.

One board member noted that sex is not the same as “gender identity” and she is correct.  Biological sex is encoded in the DNA of every cell of our bodies.  It is established at the moment of conception and can be observed and objectively verified before birth and long after death.   Ignoring biological reality to affirm  children in a self-selected “gender identity” is the very heart of gender ideology.

The word “gender” was once used interchangeably with the word “sex.”  Much of Western society has recently shifted to view gender as a social construct made up of predominantly masculine or feminine roles.  Now however, gender ideology seeks to take it one step further by replacing biological sex (“gender” in its prior usage) with “gender identity,” which is viewed as an innate sense of one’s gender, i.e. feelings of being female or male, both or neither. 

The term “gender identity” was coined in 1964 by Robert Stroller and later popularized by John Money’s infamous “nature versus nurture” experiment on the Reimer twins.  There is no consensus in the medical or psychological communities that humans have a “gender identity,” nor that it should be included in the definition of sex.  There is no consensus that people who self-identify as another gender should qualify as a protected class.  In fact, the conflation of “gender identity” with biological sex undermines hard-won victories for same-sex spaces, girls’ sports, women’s rights, gay rights, parental rights, and free speech.

“Gender identity” cannot be measured or objectively observed.  It has no coherent, consistent definition. (See: “gender fluid”) Gender ideology is rife with contradictions, yet LCS “guides” its teachers to uphold its tenets in their interactions with our children.  The board believes that children should explore “gender identity” and be affirmed in their self-diagnoses by teachers and school staff. 

According to most studies, over 80% of gender dysphoric children desist, or resolve their distress if given time to work through their confusion.  This therapeutic approach is called “watchful waiting,” but one board member disingenuously referred to it as “conversion therapy” at the dais.  So-called “affirmative care” on the other hand perpetuates (and profits from) the idea of conversion to the opposite sex.  The pursuit of a superficial appearance of the opposite sex can leave children sterile, disfigured, and without sexual function.   A child encouraged down this path is often condemned to a lifetime of torturous tucking, binding, electrolysis, pharmaceuticals, surgeries, and complications – at war with his/her own DNA.

The language adapted by LCS is part and parcel of gender ideology.   Vulnerable young people are being swept into this social contagion before they are mature enough to understand the implications for their long-term health and happiness.  When schools signal an affirmation-only stance despite clear evidence of medical harm being caused, they become complicit.  Schools can be inclusive of gender-nonconforming children without encouraging their lifelong medicalization.

The LCS board claimed this change put them into compliance with FL statute 1000.05, which does not reference “gender identity” at all.  Recently enacted state law HB 1069 aims to protect children from this dangerous ideology in schools, but this school board is undeterred.  They openly disagree with state elected officials and now attempt to circumvent HB1069 by elevating “gender identity” to the level of a protected class.  Sadly, they remain utterly incurious about why so many concerned parents, detransitioners, and doctors are fighting so hard – at great personal cost – to allow vulnerable children to reach maturity with their minds and bodies intact. 

If it is true that no child will be discriminated against in Leon County Schools, then why is there a need to list any category or group at all?  Why insert the contentious concept of “gender identity”?

The answer is simple:  Virtue signaling.  The board must reluctantly comply with Florida law, but they want you to know they are true believers of gender ideology.

Priscilla West holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University and worked in the oil industry for 25 years.  She currently serves as Chair of Moms for Liberty Leon County.