'Sex Is A Biological Fact': Burgess Owens Decries 'Radical Gender Ideology' In Public Schools

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]That said, Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentleman from Utah, the bill's co-lead and vice chair of the Education Workforce Committee, Mr. Owens.

[00:00:08]>> Gentleman from Utah is recognized for three minutes.

[00:00:11]>> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

[00:00:12]>> I'd like to start my comments with a simple truth. There are only two sexes, male and female. Sex is a biological fact, not an ide not ideological whim.

[00:00:23]Yet among and across the school across our country, school districts are actively pushing radical gender ideology on children. In some cases, facilitating social transitions without parents knowledge or consent. I grew up in a time when most Americans like me knew what a boy was and what a girl was. And this was not ever controversial.

[00:00:44]Unfortunately, with the rise of radical gender ideology today, many have lost what we must call common sense. There's another truth that should not be contentious. Parents, not school administrators, should have the ultimate right to make decisions about their child's upbringing. Once again, common sense. As a heritage foundation has written, a century of of Supreme Court Jewish prudence supports the notion that parents enjoy the fundamental constitutional right to direct upbringing, health, and education of their children. We're not talking about nicknames on football teams. We're talking about adults with no relationship to a minor child. secretly transition a child and then actively working to conceal it from the parents uh the child's parents. This is madness.

[00:01:28]If a child is struggling with gender dysphoria, parents should be the first to know, not the last. Right now, according to Defending Education, at least 21,000 schools and 1,200 districts covering over 12 million students have policies to prevent faculty and staff from disclosing a student's gender identity to his own parents without the parent without the students permission.

[00:01:48]This is simply unacceptable. If a child needs a permission slip signed to go to a field trip, a school should never think they have the right to socially transition to the same child without informing his or her parents. The stopping indoctrination of protecting kids act is straightforward. Any district that promotes these ideologies in the classroom and conceals a child's gender transition from parents will lose federal funding. Our school system should be teaching children how to read, write, and think, not how to turn little Johnny into little Jenny. Not long ago, these ideas would not have been controversial. Today, too many schools want to cut parents out and push their own personal ideology instead. I'm grateful for Chairman Wahberg for the work he's been doing to bring this this bill to the floor. I urge every one of my colleagues to vote yes on this important legislation. Thank you, and I'll yield back. German yields back.