BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — About a month ago, Knoch School District, along with Southside School District, entered into a lawsuit claiming that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission’s LGBTQ+ protections are unconstitutional. Now some students and parents at Knoch High School are speaking up.
That suit says the PHRC’s definition of gender does not abide by the two gender standard of male and female.
The Knoch School Board provided Channel 11 with a statement saying:
“The PHRC is a State Agency that does not have the authority to change the definition of sex per our State Constitution. This lawsuit is intended to protect young girls and women from being forced to share bathrooms and locker rooms with biological males. There have been countless reports of female athletes who have been physically and mentally hurt because they have been forced to compete against biological males. These female students’ rights have been ignored by the unlawful actions of the PHRC and others. The Knoch School District is fighting to protect these students.”
Thomas King represents the district. He said, ”This is a case filed in the commonwealth court, it’s a statewide court and so any decision would affect the entire state of Pennsylvania.”
But at the meeting, opponents argued the defendants are not in Butler County - and the suit would eliminate protections for students who identify under a wider scope of gender.
Harrisyn Schlipp is a Senior at Knoch High School who spoke at the school board meeting on Wednesday night. He said, “It targets my friends, it targets my peers, and it makes them feel unsafe. It makes them feel uncomfortable, and it’s not any better that their own school board is the one that created and voted to pursue this lawsuit.”
Liam Neigh is a Knoch High School Alum. He says the money for the suit could be put to better use.
“A man who spoke yesterday that used to work the HVAC systems and said it could fix the filters and clean the entire air of the whole school,” said Neigh. “Instead, this money is now gone and towards the cause that is both political in nature and not going to help students.”
The vote on whether to spend $10,000 to participate in the lawsuit was added to the school board agenda less than 24 hours before the meeting, in which it was approved on March 5. The lawsuit was filed a day later, on March 6.
“It was an action that was going to be filed on a certain day,” said Attorney King. “So they needed to take action in order to join, so they did that.”
Neigh said, “The show of support yesterday was so significant that I hope it brings better accountability to the school board.”
There has been no further action taken by the school board at this time.
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