Wed Apr 5, 2023 – 4:12 pm EDT
BISMARCK (LifeSiteNews) – North Dakota’s liberal Republican Doug Burgum vetoed legislation Thursday that would have forbade teachers from referring to students by factually-inaccurate gender pronouns without parental consent, thereby preserving public educators’ ability to reinforce gender dysphoria in young people.
The Associated Press reports that the bill was meant to ensure that parents were aware and approved of any school actions to recognize their child as “transgender.” It also protected government employees from being forced to use coworker’s “preferred pronouns.”
“Five years ago, this whole pronoun thing wasn’t a thing,” argued Republican state Rep. SuAnn Olson. “It puts teachers in the very difficult position” of navigating the disconnect between what students actually are and how they want to be recognized.
The bill would let teachers “rest with relief that they only need to remember one name and set of historically recognized biological pronouns,” agreed Republican state Rep. Lori VanWinkle, of Minot, who added that it would also reduce the “social distractions” in education.
However, in his veto message, Burgum claimed that state law was already sufficient to protect teachers from being forced to use pronouns that conflict
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