El Paso Independent School District is coming under fire for a survey circulated to 9th through 12th graders asking for the students’ gender identities and sexual orientations.
The “Equity Assessment Survey” surfaced in late October after a community member sounded the alarm on the survey, which was allegedly going to be given to students as young as eight years old.
Parents were reportedly sent an opt-out form via email. Yet, many recipients said the emails landed in their “spam” or “junk” folders.
State Republican Executive Committeewoman for Senate District 1 Christin Bentley subsequently sent a public information request to El Paso ISD asking for a copy of the survey.
The copy confirmed that 9th through 12th graders were questioned about their gender identities and sexual orientations.
The page requesting the information included both English and Spanish versions. The first question—which was optional—asked “What is your gender identity?” Respondents were prompted to choose either “female,” “male,” “I prefer to self-describe,” or “I prefer not to answer.”
The second question—which was also optional—asked “Do you identify as LGBTQIA+?” The survey specified that “LGBTQIA+ refers to a collection of identities and is short for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, and aromantic. The plus represents other identities not included in the acronym such as two-spirit, non-binary, and pansexual.” Respondents could answer either “yes,” “no,” or “I prefer not to answer.”
President of Texas Family Project Brady Gray told Texas Scorecard that the district should be worrying more about students’ academic success than their gender identities and sexual orientations.
“Again we see a school district, which is failing its students in the basics (31% proficiency in reading, 23% in math), abdicating their duties and instead grooming and indoctrinating children,” said Gray. “The sexual orientation of a student should not be the concern of any public school. Further, gender identity is a non-sensical, unscientific term that should be rejected by all institutions of education and logical people in general. Both of these serve no educational function and only serve to erode basic truth as well as parental rights.”
“We must put a stop to this in Texas. Get schools back to educating, get activists out of the classroom, and defend our children’s minds and futures,” he added.
El Paso ISD has not responded to a request for comment.
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