In the new 2021-2022 school year, the North Canton School District (OH) has decided that students are unable to go by their preferred names or pronouns without explicit parental permission. By misgendering and misnaming transgender students, we are not only putting them at higher risk for depression, suicide, and other mental health issues, we are also showing cisgender, or “non-transgender” students, that misgendering these students is okay and unpunishable. This decision puts transgender students in the path of an increased amount of bullying, harrassment, and humiliation by fellow students, teachers, other school employees, and many others.

This new rule was only brought to our attention after three students were outed to their parents by the administration at Hoover High School. This was done because of the new rule instituted, in which counselors were told that students were unable to go by their preferred name and pronouns without parental permission. This action caused some students to be in dangerous situations at home, and caused many others fear for days as they wondered whether they themselves would be outed by guidance counselors they were supposed to trust.

Outing students and refusing to call them by their preferred name and pronouns is illegal under Title 9, which applies to all public schools, grades K-12. If school officials do not use the titles requested by the student, they are breaking the law. All students have the ability to list a chosen name for non-legal purposes in school records, and school administrators have a responsibility not to out them to friends, family, and peers.

School administrators refuse to reverse their decision due to their aversion to “lying to parents.” To that, we say this: is it more important to support trans students, or pacify their transphobic parents?

The Hoover High School GSA stands with its trans students and asks you to sign this petition to change the verdict of the school board. We ask that the decision made for the 2021-2022 school year is reversed, and that the North Canton School District resolve to better protect their LGBT students by making it clear that no other student should ever be outed again.