A classroom at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps/Utah News Dispatch)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require parental consent before a public elementary or middle school could update a student’s pronouns, gender markers or preferred name on records to receive federal funds.
The measure – what worked 217-198 – would also prohibit the employ of federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which provides federal aid to schools, “to teach or develop concepts related to gender ideology.”
Eight Democrats broke with their party to vote for the Republican-led effort, including: Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Cleo Fields of Louisiana, Laura Gillen of New York, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state and Eugene Vindman of Virginia.
Fifteen members of the House did not vote.
Parental consent
The bill would also require schools to obtain parental consent before changing “gender accommodations” to allow a student to access a locker room or bathroom consistent with his or her gender identity.
Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said during floor debate that the measure “made monumental progress in restoring parental rights and common sense in education.”
The bill “affirms parents’ right to be responsible for raising their children and ensures that schools remain partners in a child’s education,” and “establishes clear barriers to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to support learning and not indoctrinate children with radical ideology and agendas,” the Michigan Republican added.
Walberg spearheaded the bill with Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, who introduced a separate measure, which was later introduced, that prohibits the employ of federal funds “to teach or advance concepts related to gender ideology.”
The bill is based on the definition of “gender ideology” contained in Art January 2025 Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump.
The order defines “gender ideology” as “the idea that there is a broad spectrum of sexes distinct from gender.”
GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, noted in: a information sheet that “gender ideology” is “an inaccurate term used by opponents to disempower and dehumanize transgender and non-binary people.”
House Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are criticizing the bill
Republican Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce panel, criticized the measure during floor debate, saying it “would impose a rigid federal mandate that ignores context, disregards student safety and puts politics over people.”
The Virginia Democrat noted that the bill “prohibits any discussion of transgender people or topics in the classroom, including “banning books with transgender characters” or discussing “the existence of transgender people.”
Scott noted that the bill “takes away state and local control over education curriculum — exactly what the current administration claims it is giving back to the states by illegally dismantling the Department of Education.”
He is afraid that students will be expelled
Rep. Mark Takano, chairman of the Congressional Equality Caucus, criticized the legislation ahead of parliamentary debate as a “don’t speak trans bill.”
The California Democrat told States Newsroom he feared the measure would force school officials to release students to their parents, regardless of whether the official knew the student would be harmed.
Takano, who also serves on the House education panel, also expressed concern that when parents support their child by using different pronouns, “if a teacher uses a different pronoun, it could be interpreted as ‘promoting gender ideology.’
He said: “We cannot ignore the fact that this administration will apply a maximalist interpretation of the law, which would work even if” a student with supportive parents of transgender children “could not use his preferred nickname.”
David Stacy, vice president of government affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, in a statement shared with State Newsroom ahead of the vote, condemned the bill as “cruel” and noted that the LGBTQ+ advocacy group is “prepared to fight it.”
“Transgender children are not political targets – they are students who, like everyone else, deserve to be safe and affirmed in school,” Stacy added.
“Despite the many pressing issues facing our nation, House Republicans continue their bizarre obsession with transgender people,” he said.
