Teachers and students grapple with fears and confusion about new laws restricting pronoun use [View all]

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https://apnews.com/article/transgender-nonbinary-pronouns-lgbtq-schools-f4694f1e1503504a6cdf1aae4205a180

Teachers and students grapple with fears and confusion about new laws restricting pronoun use

BY ANDREW DEMILLO AND RICK CALLAHAN
Updated 9:57 AM EST, November 21, 2023

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis high school senior Caston Peters had used they and them or he and him pronouns at school for three years without a problem, but they came home a few days into this school year and told their mother that the situation had changed.

Peters, 18 and nonbinary, heard from a teacher that a new state law meant they wouldn’t be able to use those pronouns, or the first name they’ve used for years, without explicit permission from a parent because the pronouns and name don’t correspond with their sex assigned at birth.

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“It makes me feel like there’s going to be a child out there who’s not going to feel safe at home to tell their parents and the school’s going to rat them out for wanting to be called a different name or different pronouns,” she said.

Indiana is among at least 10 states that have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting students from using pronouns or names that don’t match their sex assigned at birth, a restriction that opponents say further marginalizes transgender and nonbinary students. Most of the laws were enacted this year and are part of a historic wave of new restrictions on transgender youth approved by Republican states.

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