Once again, the city’s attempts to be “inclusive” are punishing kids and parents.
As
, PS 65 on Staten Island put off its annual father-daughter dance after reviewing the Department of Education’s new gender guidelines. The rules force schools to end all “gender-based practices,” unless they serve a clear educational purpose.
That was a bummer for Jose Garcia and his 9-year-old daughter, Jolene. At past dances, “we got to wear dresses and hang out with our friends” Jolene recalled.
Understandably, the DOE doesn’t want anyone to feel left out. And a father-daughter dance by definition treats dads and girls differently than moms and boys, to say nothing of other gender categories.
But just as understandably, that’s the case with scores of other things: As Brooklyn College Prof. David Bloomfield notes, the DOE discriminates on this basis all the time — in school sports, for example, and in all-boy or all-girl schools.
DOE spokeswoman Toya Holness says schools “must ensure that such events are gender-neutral and open to all students and their person(s) in parental relation.” The agency’s LGBT liaison, Jared Fox, is far more blunt: “Father-daughter dances inherently leave people out.”
Here’s the thing: No one is ever barred from these events on the basis of gender. And schools make sure to have plenty of occasions for moms and sons — and every other adult-child combination.
Meanwhile, making dances “inclusive” means the end of those special moments. PC overzealousness wins again.
