Copyright M Live Michigan
LANSING, MI – Michigan House lawmakers clashed in committee Tuesday over proposed updates to the state’s health education guidelines, advancing a request to school leaders to oust the standards over details related to sexuality and gender identity and an alleged encroachment on parental rights. The Michigan Department of Education unveiled the draft “Michigan Health Education Standards Framework” earlier this fall, marking the first major update since 2007. The proposed framework, which newly involves some LGBTQ+ inclusive content in sex education recommendations, has garnered the ire of Michigan parents and Republican leaders who believe the related subjects should be kept out of classrooms. On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Resolution 195 was passed out of the House Oversight Committee along party lines, with GOP members largely airing concerns that the framework would blur lines between general health education and sex ed and stymie protections allowing parents to opt their children out of exposure to sex-related information. “The reality is there’s a lot of things in these proposed guidelines that do not line up with the beliefs of parents,” said state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, who chairs the committee. “They do not believe it is the role of the government … to dictate these kinds of things. Things like the science of gender. How many genders are there?” Sue Carnell, Michigan’s interim state school superintendent, defended the framework as a set of non-binding guidelines, not a mandate, largely reiterating the response to concerns issued earlier this month by MDE and Democrats on the State Board of Education, which still must approve the framework. The framework would still reflect existing state law that requires opt-out options for parents, she said. State law only requires that a health education course overall is taught for Michigan students to graduate high school. “This is a guidance. It’s a framework,” Carnell said. “Health education is required. What’s taught in health education is up to the local district aside from (prevention for) HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases.” Still, lawmakers pushed back on interpretations of how the framework is applied and what Parnell as an education administrator would and would not support in terms of content. According to a 51-page summary of the proposed framework, gender identity and expression and sexual orientation wouldn’t be defined in applied curriculum until grades six to eight. If utilized, it would also encourage explanations of biological sex, gender identity and expression as distinct concepts. What were the concerns? In response to DeBoyer’s gender question, Carnell said, “Different people have different beliefs.” She added the standards also “point to understanding tolerance, inclusivity, and based on what we know (from other states), it has made a difference” protecting students who otherwise feel bullied or harassed because of their identity or orientation. State Rep. Jamie Thompson, R-Brownstown Township, who does not sit on the oversight committee, testified that’s she’s never received complaints in her office about bullying in schools related to “being gay or transgender.” Rather, she said she’s heard mostly from students bullied because of socio-economic differences and other physical attributes. But in comments to fellow committee members, state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, referenced her own background to explain why it was important to expose adolescents to the LGBTQ+ community. Science, she said, doesn’t negate understanding gender or sexuality. “What I did not learn in my Catholic school was anything about sexual orientation or gender identity,” she said. “It turns out not hearing about it in my health class, though, didn’t make me any less queer and it didn’t make me any less queer in any of the other classes I went to where queer kids were bullied.” Three Rivers Republican Steve Carra asked about gender identity and chromosomes, floating concerns that guidelines addressing the wellbeing of kids should try “not to confuse them.” Although she attempted to steer inquiry back to the guidelines, Carnell said a child’s gender identity was what “makes him who he is or who she is.” State Rep. Jamie Green, R-Richmond, said she was concerned the guidelines would make it possible to “embed sexual health and identity materials” throughout all curriculum “without any boundaries or parental notification” because of several framework references to inclusive content integration. Committee member Jason Woolford, R-Howell, asked Carnell about curriculum guidelines beyond reading, writing, arithmetic and history. He pushed for content about “the story of liberty” and religiously oriented details about God and the creation of two sexes, rather than an agenda he didn’t believe was constitutional. “I think we should just eliminate the sex ed department all together,” Woolford said. In response to a question about the impact sex ed content has on teachers, state Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, testified it unnecessarily pits parents against teachers, who are forced to teach content even if “it’s violative of their deeply held religious belief.” Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City, emphasized students’ need to understand civil rights of LGBTQ+ peers in order to understand mental health and safety components in health education. Carnell agreed. Multiple GOP lawmakers expressed thanks for the state’s guidelines backing inclusion of abstinence as a prevention measure in sex ed, but Oxford Republican Rep. Josh Schriver asked Carnell to condemn efforts he believed aimed to remove abstinence requirements from state law. He was referencing a House Bill introduced in late 2024 that proposed adjusting language around teaching abstinence as the most effective method to prevent sexually transmitted illnesses and pregnancy. It ultimately died in committee. Carnell added only, “We’re going to stick with the law.” State Rep. Reggie Miller, D-Van Buren Township, vice-chair of the committee, asked if health ed standards are scrubbed of LGBTQ-related content, how teachers should respond to students who are members of that community “without denying their existence.” “Teaching reality isn’t about taking sides,” she said. “It’s about the real world in which they have to live in. It’s about respect. It’s about facts, and it’s about transparency.” The State Board of Education, which only has two Republican members, voted down a similar resolution to reject MDE’s health education guidelines earlier this month. It next meets Nov. 13.
