Hello, my name is…
Redacted.
A person’s name is a core part of their identity. It is one of the first things you learn about another person. It is a symbol of who a person is, a banner for various accomplishments and personality traits to gather under.
For some students, the name assigned to them at birth is not the identity they see in themselves. For whatever reason, they see themselves with a different name than the one first written on their birth certificate.
Now, students’ core identities are being written away, discarded.
House Bill 1608 was signed into law May 4. Now Public Law 248, it requires schools to notify at least one parent of a student who wishes to change a name, pronoun, title or word used to identify a student. This is in effect for all classes and clubs a student may participate in.
Indiana has signed into law the death of a safe place for kids who chose a different name—who are not safe to use their identity at home.
It is also nothing less than unconstitutional.
Amendment 14 of the constitution states that, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
—Which, Public Law 248 does.
As used in the constitution, the term “liberty” means freedom from arbitrary and unreasonable restraint upon an individual. This applies both to physical restraint, but also the freedom to act on a person’s own will.
—Which would logically extend to the right to use a different name from a student’s legal one at school without unnecessarily risking harm. And yet.
There is no way to sugarcoat it. This law hurts people. Countless students have experience with not being able to use their preferred name at home, and found a safe place with various teachers and clubs to express themselves openly. Taking away these safe places does damage to students’ overall mental health.
The first priority of the school is a blend of safety and learning. Yes, school is a learning environment, but it is meant to be a learning environment where students are safe and healthy. That is why there are regular drills and specific protocols for classes where students are more at risk.
Mental health is just as important as physical health. It is much harder to learn when you feel the emotional weight of being restrained. Be it the emotional strain of having to perform as someone you are not, or the pain of dysphoria only amplified by constant repetition of a person’s deadname—the name they rejected.
Frankly, I struggle to see the point. The bill itself is titled, “Education Matters,” yet the bill actively causes something that makes education harder for a large group of students across the state.
No, to all the people who have written and voted in favor of this new law, education does not matter to you. Targeting trans students does.
