Current Rhode Island public school policy on transgender and gender nonconforming students was formally passed as a regulation in April 2018 by the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education and then-Education Commissioner Ken Wagner under the authority of the governor.

Anchor Rising made the following inquiry by e-mail last month of the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, current Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and Governor Dan McKee through his Press Secretary.

Current RIDE policy permits schools to discuss transgender procedures with students. RIDE policy also permits schools to refrain from notifying the parents of students at the secondary level who may be considering or are undergoing gender transition.  My question: is RIDE considering changes to these policies given the increasing publicity around “detransitioners”?

No response has been received, though staff members of all three offices politely indicated in follow up calls they would pass along the inquiry.

The effects of transitioning – sterility and non-functional organs – are significant and permanent as the thousands of transgender individuals who detransitioned (the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey alone documents 2,242 individuals who have done so; how many since?) have learned.  And the stories of an increasing number of detransitioners have been in the news recently.

Rhode Island’s transgender policy on underage students, accordingly, is consequential and carries potential long-term implications for at least some of the students in our elementary and secondary schools.  For this reason, Anchor Rising will make follow up inquiries of the above officials.

[Featured image by Kenny Eliason via Unsplash]