Rep. John Fillmore, a Republican Arizona state senator, is promoting a bill that would prevent school officials from telling kids that their biology has nothing to do with their male-or-female sex.

Fillmore, vice president of the Education Committee in the Arizona House of Representatives, plans to introduce a trio of bills addressing the advancement of the transgender agenda in public schools.

The Tucson Sentinel reported on the legislation, claiming it “targets transgender kids:”

House Bill 2082 would create a new law that would require a school superintendent, principal, teacher or any other school employee to use the sex or gender pronoun that “corresponds to the sex listed on that student’s birth certificate. If an employee of a school refuses to do so, a school could be penalized, though the bill does not outline what that penalty would be. Fillmore did not respond to multiple requests for comment. One impetus for the bill might be the firing last year of an art teacher at Arizona College Preparatory in Chandler after she allegedly discriminated against a transgender student, refused to call another transgender student by their preferred name and routinely proselytized her Christian faith to her class.

The newspaper cited research from 2018 that claims using a “chosen pronoun” can reduce rates of depression and suicide in so-called transgender children.

The newspaper also interviewed the director of governmental relations for the Arizona School Board Association, who said he didn’t think the pronoun debate was an issue in the state.

Chris Kotterman said.:

We haven’t seen that this is an issue that presents a concern to school districts in Arizona, and certainly not a big enough concern that a state law is necessary. Teachers and school staff make an impact by building relationships with students that are based on trust and respect. Part of that for some students is how they wish to be recognized.

Kotterman said that pronouns should be an issue decided on by students, their parents, and school officials.

Homosexual activists say the bill is “harmful.”

“This bill will only exacerbate the already hostile climate we already have,” Madelaine Adelman, co-founder of the Phoenix chapter of GLSEN, a group that has for decades promoted its agenda on public school campuses.

“The lack of safe educational learning environments is setting them up for failure,” she said.

The Sentinel speculated that two other bills Fillmore is advancing “appear to be aimed at the transgender community in Arizona.”

Existing state law does not require a birth certificate to include the biological sex of the newborn and Fillmore’s bill (House Bill 2081) would require that information be included.

The Sentinel reported:

House Bill 2080 “would require that any document issued by any agency, board, commission or department of the state may only indicate an individual’s sex as either male or female,” the Sentinel reported.

By having the state intervene and confirm that there are only the two binary choices, it is restricting options for an individual who may question their gender or sexuality in the future, according to Adelman.

“What message does it send to young people that we have legislators that believe that they don’t deserve to exist?” Adelman said.

The newspaper report noted that 11 states offer options other than male or female on birth certificates.

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