The New York Post dubbed it gender confusion — the new Department of Education guidelines regarding gendered school events, like daddy-daughter dances, are so muddled that schools are canceling the events altogether, lest they lose funding:
A Staten Island elementary school scrapped its traditional father-daughter dance this coming Friday because of the Department of Education’s new gender guidelines.
The DOE ordered schools to “eliminate” any “gender-based” practices like the dance in a March 2017 policy update unless they serve a “clear” educational purpose.
The PS 65 shindig, set for Feb. 9, was abruptly postponed until next month after the school’s PTA realized the dance would run afoul of the rules.
“Until we understand what we are legally permitted to do, we need to table this event,” PTA president Toni Bennett wrote to a private school-parents group on Facebook.
Parents’ reactions ranged from outrage to disappointment. Most voiced disgust with what one parent dubbed “PC culture” in which “people are becoming just too scared to talk.” Another parent more pointedly referred to the issue as “gender crap.”
Students were equally as upset, not understanding why an event they saw as an opportunity to dress up and hang out with friends had to be canceled.
The Staten Island school has never received a gender-related complaint. They were simply forced to cancel all gender-oriented events, including an annual mother-son bowling event, due to the new Department of Education guidelines. The PTA has plans to schedule a new non-gendered parent/child event for spring.
The report quotes Jared Fox, the Department of Education’s “LGBT community liaison,” as stating that gendered events, like daddy-daughter dances, are inherently “triggering.” He later admitted that if the daughter identified as “trans” the event would be “very affirming.” In other words, the Department of Education is cool with gender-themed events as long as participants do not conform to gender norms. It’s kind of like Common Core math. At least in the 2+2 can equal 5 sense.
New York’s City Council established and funds the LGBT community liaison position. Establishing the post was the project of Councilman Danny Dromm, a former New York City public school teacher who “came out in 1992 and has been at the forefront of pushing LGBTQ issues.” Fox, the first person hired into the position, identifies as gay. Fox’s goal in the position is to help make LGBTQ students “feel safe.” His plans to do this include “bringing LGBTQ authors into schools and adding their books to the curriculum so students have a more balanced portrayal.”
Where is the balance in banning all gender-oriented public school events, you might ask? Where is the balance in discriminating against straight students by asserting that they offend gay or trans students? Better yet, let’s get really creepy for a minute and question the implied sexualization of parent-child events at the elementary level in the name of LGBTQ rights and work back from there.
Daddy-daughter dances have been a classic go-to fundraiser for parent-teacher organizations for decades. Many of them across the country have been canceled in recent years due to complaints about a lack of “inclusivity.” Complaints often come from the growing population of single mothers whose children do not have father figures in the home.
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