On Wednesday, the Arizona Senate Education Committee is scheduled to take up a bill that restricts the use of transgender pronouns in schools.
State Sen. John Kavanagh’s Senate Bill 1001 requires school employees to call a student by the pronoun that aligns with their biological sex, not the one the student identifies with — unless their parents say it’s OK to use trans pronouns.
“A teacher who violates the bill will be subjected to the same penalties as if they violated any other school rule,” said Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). “This bill requires school districts to put in rule this policy and they will deal with it as they deal with any infraction by a teacher.”
But even if passed by the Legislature, the bill would face a near-certain veto from Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Jeanne Woodbury with Equality Arizona plans to testify against the measure. “Now that there’s zero chance of any of these bills becoming law, my message to Sen. Kavanagh would just be to stop antagonizing kids, stop antagonizing the LGBT community and stop wasting everyone’s time,” Woodbury said.
Discussion on the bill is planned for 2 p.m.
