A civil rights complaint has been filed against a Fort Worth charter school for requiring members of its boys and girls choirs to be biologically male and female, respectively.
The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas on behalf of a student — who is biologically male but identifies as “transgender and non-binary” — who wanted to join the professional-level Singing Girls of Texas choir at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts.
In the complaint, the ACLU of Texas states that the student “has a soprano vocal range and feels most comfortable and true to their gender identity in either gender-neutral or female groups.” The left-leaning advocacy organization claimed the school’s policy is “in clear violation of Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and its implementing regulations.”
The student’s father, who went by the pseudonymous name Matthew Moe in the complaint, alleged in a press release, “Unfortunately, the discriminatory actions by the board derailed our child’s choir career before it even began.”
Chloe Kempf, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in the press release:
“We urge the federal government to intervene and end these clearly discriminatory policies before they can further harm and stigmatize LGBTQIA+ students. No matter their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or religion, all students deserve to learn in an inclusive and welcoming educational environment.”
In the complaint, the ACLU of Texas claims that the school’s biological rule violates an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that mandates “that all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex … including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
A coalition of 20 states was able to put a pause on the order in federal court, securing a ruling that the Biden administration and its agencies were “exceeding their express authority delegated by Congress.” However, Texas was not a part of the suit, meaning the order is still in effect in the state.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the ACLU of Texas also recently filed a complaint against Keller ISD for implementing policies that require students, faculty, and staff to use bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex at birth and prohibit district employees from promoting or requiring pronoun usage “inconsistent with an individual’s biological sex as it appears on the individual’s birth certificate.” The organization also filed a complaint against the district last year over a policy that instituted content guidelines to regulate students’ exposure to potentially controversial or sexually explicit materials.
Such materials being made available to students in school libraries has prompted outrage from some community members and parents around the metroplex.
Dallas ISD saw a number of protests against its school board after trustees kept the book Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by Lev A.C. Rosen on library shelves, even after the alleged sexually explicit content in the book was brought to their attention, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“If it had been a movie, it would be rated X. It’s offensive and completely inappropriate for our children,” Tami Brown Rodriguez told The Dallas Express back in February.
The district has since pulled the title from shelves, but it is unclear how many potentially inappropriate books remain in its libraries.