At a Canadian conference overflowing with Marxist and anti-Western academics, a U.S. professor highlighted a critical truth often ignored by diversity advocates: “trans” policies frequently undermine the rights of girls.
At the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s Centre for Leadership and Diversity conference themed “Leadership for Renewal, Sustenance and Resistance in Challenging Times,” Carol Mullin, a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia presented a study on why education policy makers accept or resist “trans-students rights policies.”
The presentation, “School Board Dynamics of Trans Student Policy Amid Democratic Backsliding,” detailed a study Mullin conducted to understand factors influencing policymakers to adopt or reject “trans rights policies” at school boards.
When asked to define trans rights, Mullin told True North that what she calls trans rights “involves trade offs in the minds of some communities,” and that any definition requires interrogation and to be “unpacked.”
She said if trans rights relate to self-expression, gender expression and voice, including “choose which restrooms and other facilities that they want to use without apology,” then there will be “pushback” from groups who believe their rights are being removed to accommodate.
“And we have to understand where that comes from too, is that that’s a trade off for girls’ rights. And so if you’re going to define trans rights, you have to define biologically speaking girls rights, which can crowd out trans rights,” Mullin said. “One of the quotes that I provided, ‘I’m uncomfortable with anyone thinking they can go into a girl’s restroom or bathroom’ anyone being a trans person.”
In Virginia, however, she said trans rights are defined as the “dignity of all students express themselves in ways that are appropriate with school policy,” meaning the rights of trans-identifying people are no different from any other student’s rights.
When asked to elaborate on “trans-student policies,” Mullin said she and her fellow researchers examined “classic” issues such as trans-identifying males accessing female restrooms, facilities and locker rooms. Still, they were “more interested” in factors that drove policymakers away from accepting any policy involving trans people.
She said policy was mainly driven by the opinions, experiences and upbringings of decision-makers, such as school trustees. She also noted that policymakers were concerned with the legality of specific policies before introducing them; an illegal policy was less likely to be passed.
Mullin said her study became an “outtake” on how to overcome research challenges, as few wanted to participate in interviews, forcing them to examine meeting minutes and debates from board meetings instead.
“We sought permission from 11 Virginia divisions to conduct interviews with school board members, and we went above and beyond to assure anonymity, to assure them that we would safeguard their identity so they would speak with us, and so we would be protecting them,” she said during her presentation. “But only three divisions agreed, and that was a major roadblock. Two initial agreements were rescinded among the consenting divisions. Of the 16 board members who had been emailed, we could now only conduct one interview.”
During the presentation, citing outside research, she also claimed that “democratic backsliding” was occurring in the U.S.
In “Critical literature,” rooted in the Frankfort School and Marxist theory, democratic backsliding describes the “deliberate, incremental erosion of democratic norms, institutions and practices by elected officials or governing elites.”
Democratic norms are often cited as values of mutual toleration, where political opponents accept each other’s legitimacy, or in this case, the protection of minority rights and freedom of expression.
As Mullin noted, the challenge of discussing “trans-rights” in female spaces could be considered a “backsliding” of minority rights for girls, depending on one’s perspective.
Mullin did not respond to True North’s requests for further comment.
OICE’s CLD conference was billed as “open to all” for a fee of $180 for the weekend.