A Knoxville district is considering removing “sexual orientation" and "actual or perceived gender" from its harassment policy.

A Tennessee board of education is voting on updates to its school harassment policy that could remove language protecting gay, bi and trans students and staff.

The Knox County Board of Education is considering removing “sexual orientation” and “actual or perceived gender” from its policy, replacing them with the word “sex.”



Such a change could affect how the district punished anti-LGBT bullying in schools but a rep insisted that “Knox County Schools does not tolerate discrimination or harassment of its students and employees for any reason.”

“We looked at state law, aligning it more closely with state law,” said Board Chair Patti Bounds told the News-Sentinel. “It wasn’t taking away any protections, the new policy just didn’t list specific groups.”

On Friday, students held demonstrations against the changes at Knoxville’s Bearden High School and the L&N STEM Academy. “We are here and we won’t be silent. We matter,” said L&N student Emily Coile. “We will let everyone know that we are here and we want equal rights.”

The Knox County Board of Education will vote on whether to remove the LGBT language on October 11.