A Texas school district recently approved a rule requiring students to provide a birth certificate before auditioning for the Texas Boys Choir or the Singing Girls of Texas to ensure they are trying out for the group that correctly aligns with their biological sex.
The Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts School Board in Tarrant County recently voted 4-2 twice, once for each choir, in favor of updating handbook guidelines to specify separating the choirs by biological sex. The move, which came after three hours of public comment, reportedly “drew pushback” from parents, alums, and students. Members of multiple conservative nonprofit organizations attended the meeting to support the new rule.
“We’re simply standing up for common sense. Boys should not be allowed to sing in the girls’ choir, and girls should not be allowed to sing in the boys’ choir,” remarked Kenya Ayoub Alu, the executive director of Citizens Defending Freedom – Tarrant County. “It is absurd that we even have to have this debate, but as long as the liberal activists keep pushing their agenda, we will keep fighting back,” she continued.
According to KERA News, the artistic directors of both choirs opposed the decision, saying it harms students.
“I believe empowering our young women is important, as is empowering our young non-binary and transgender friends,” said Kerra Simmons, artistic director of Singing Girls of Texas. “There are children in my ensemble who don’t identify with the word female and that’s OK because they can sing beautifully and healthily in the treble register, and that’s what really matters.”
“Imposing gender roles onto a student based on their sex assigned at birth seems more fitting for a private, parochial school than a public charter school,” said Todd Prickett, the artistic director of the Texas Boys Choir. “In my opinion, such an imposition is discriminatory and lacks basic compassion.”
The decision comes as the Keller Independent School District, also serving Tarrant County, recently voted 5-0 to establish a policy stating that district employees “shall not promote, encourage, or require the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with a student’s or other person’s biological sex.” Another rule mandates students use the restroom that “corresponds to their gender assigned at birth.”
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas blasted both decisions, condemning them as “cruel and unlawful.”
NEW: @KellerISD passed two discriminatory policies that will harm LGBTQIA+ students, ignoring community opposition and our legal warnings.
These political attacks against kids are cruel and unlawful — and they create a hostile school climate for all.https://t.co/SEcPoKF2jL
— ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) June 29, 2023
“When school administrators misgender or deadname transgender students, it not only violates the law but can cause immense and irreparable trauma,” the group claim in a letter.
Tarrant County is the third-most populous county in Texas, with more than two million residents.