On today’s show, a conversation with New Hanover County Board of Education member David Perry about how gender is taught and discussed in schools. Last week, Perry, who was elected in November, joined the board’s other Republicans in voting to overhaul the school district’s strategic plan, policies, and procedures. The main focus was removing material to comply with recent executive orders from President Donald Trump — which essentially threatened to withhold federal funding from schools if they didn’t remove DEI and so-called gender ideology from their curriculum.
Over the weekend, Perry took to Facebook to voice his frustration that the news media had ignored the gender part of the story — specifically issues involving trans students — and focusing on DEI, instead. At the same time, I’d heard from a lot of people, including Perry’s supporters but also parents very concerned about his stance on trans students. So, we invited him to come in and discuss his views.
Links:
- The 2013 Steensma study, referenced by David Perry. The work was conducted by Dr. Thomas D. Steensma et. al. and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
- 2019 Canadian Medical Association Journal (which I read through the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine site — it’s not a NIH study, my apologies).
- Trump’s executive orders on DEI and gender.
- Last week’s vote: New Hanover County school board votes 5-2 to remove references to DEI
