Grafton School Committee takes a stand for transgender students

The School Committee is standing up for transgender students, voting Tuesday to sign on to a resolution calling for Massachusetts to pass “sanctuary laws” for families with transgender members.

“We’re seeing transgender students all over the nation be targeted,” School Committee member Laura Often said. “We have transgender students in our community,.. I want them to know that they are safe and we support them.”

Transgender students have higher rates of self-harm tendencies and depression and several states have recently passed laws to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors and bar entry to sports programs.

The full resolution reads:

WHEREAS
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long history of standing for civil rights, including advocacy for a bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution, and
WHEREAS
Massachusetts codified gender identity as a protected class in the 2011 Act Relative to Gender Identity, and
WHEREAS
All children deserve a safe environment in which to grow up, and
WHEREAS
Some state governments are now criminalizing supportive medical care for trans individuals; moving to bar families from traveling to access such care, and otherwise violating the civil rights of trans children and their families, and
WHEREAS
The defense of the civil rights of the historically marginalized is contained within the first article of the Massachusetts Constitution’s right of “seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness,”
THEREFORE the Massachusetts Association of School Committees call on the Great and General Court to join with other states in the passage of so-called “sanctuary” laws to ensure such children and their families have “the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights and the blessings of life,” as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Commonwealth.

The resolution was proposed by a Worcester School Committee member and needs to be passed by five school committees in at least two Massachusetts Association of School Committee  divisions by June 1. If passed, it will be voted on by the MASC Delegate Assembly in November.

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