School uniforms, pronouns must match students’ ‘God-given’ sex, Louisiana diocese says

A Louisiana diocese has implemented a policy for its Catholic schools that requires students and staff members to match their pronouns, uniforms and other aspects of their school lives to their “God-given sexual identity.”

The “Sexual Identity Policy” outlined in Catholic school student handbooks for the 2022-23 school year says students and staff members must live consistent with their “biological sex at birth” when using names and pronouns, accessing school facilities, staying in overnight accommodations and participating in school activities.

The policy applies to all 32 Catholic schools within the Diocese of Lafayette, according to The Daily Advertiser.

The policy says that Roman Catholic teachings dictate that God created people as male or female and “the harmonious integration of a person’s sexual identity with his or her sex is an expression of the inner unity and reality of the human person made body and soul by God.”

But advocates say such statements and policies are harmful and exclusionary to people whose gender identities differ from the sex they had at birth.

About 1.6 million people in the U.S. identify as transgender, according to the University of California’s Williams Institute.

Of the adults who identified as transgender in the Williams Institute study, 25.6% reported they were gender-nonconforming. This means that a person does not conform to typical “masculine” or “feminine” gender stereotypes, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Policies such as the Diocese of Lafayette’s “sexual identity policy” hurt LGBTQ youth by telling them that who they are is wrong, Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, told McClatchy News.

“They’re really telling trans and queer kids that not only do they not approve of them, but God disapproves of them, their teachers disapprove of them, their parents probably disapprove of them,” Michelle said. “And all of these things are things that send queer kids into suicidal ideations.”

Forty-five percent of LGBTQ youth and more than half of transgender and non-binary youth “seriously considered” attempting suicide last year, according to a 2022 survey on LGBTQ youth mental health conducted by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit with a mission to end suicide among LGBTQ youth.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Lafayette did not return requests for comment from McClatchy News on Aug. 1.

The spokeswoman told the Daily Advocate that the policy is not new for the diocese, but is a “written clarification” of rules that have been in effect.

“The document simply spells out Roman Catholic teachings on human sexuality and what students, parents, and school staff can expect when they enroll or are hired to work in all Diocese of Lafayette Catholic schools,” she told the outlet.

The policy is meant to ensure that “dignity is safeguarded and safe environments are fostered,” according to the document.

Other dioceses around the country have similar policies.

The Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin implemented a policy on July 1 that states that “all parishes, schools or school systems within the diocese ‘shall respect the biological sex with which a person is born,’” according to The Hill.

The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois also has a policy on gender identity that compares gender dysphoria — which is the medical term for the distress felt by someone whose gender identity does not match their birth sex — to anorexia, an eating disorder characterized by low body weight.

“Just as it would be pastorally reckless to provide weight-loss resources to a visibly gaunt anorexic who thinks she is overweight, it is equally reckless to encourage someone with gender dysphoria to undergo hormone treatment and/or genital mutilation,” the policy says.

But advocates say that the distress felt by someone with gender dysphoria can be relieved when that person is able to express their gender identity through clothing, names and pronouns and in some cases medical interventions, such as hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery, according to the National Center for Transgender equality.

Dioceses are private, religious organizations with the right to create their own guidelines, Michelle said, but for members of the LGBTQ community and their allies, gender identity policies send the wrong message.

“We should be loving people for who they are because God created them that way and not telling them that they’re wrong,” she said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2022 at 10:26 AM with the headline "School uniforms, pronouns must match students’ ‘God-given’ sex, Louisiana diocese says."