KIEL, Wis.— When Rose Babidoux moved her family to Kiel three years ago, this was about the last situation she expected to be in.
Her son is one of three students facing a Title IX investigation, she said, after the school district said he and others allegedly misused pronouns when addressing another student.
Babidoux was told of the complaint last month in a phone call from a school administrator.
“When he told me that the sexual harassment charges were for mispronouning, I really did think it was a joke. I really thought, ‘You’ve got to be pulling my leg,’” she said. “The more he said, ‘No, this is for real,’ the angrier I got.”
She and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty have requested the investigation be dropped and the academic records be cleared.
Babidoux said it’s been hard on her son, Braden, who is in eighth grade.
“He’s depressed. He doesn’t want to go to school. It is a fight every morning to get him motivated,” she said. “It’s a fight to get him even out the door and on to the bus and it was never like that.”
Cory Brewer, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty associate counsel, said the misuse of pronouns isn’t covered under Title IX.
“There’s nothing alleged that would amount to sexual harassment under Title IX,” Brewer said. “We think it’s wrong that the district is using Title IX to kind of strong-arm children into using preferred pronouns.”
Spectrum News reached out the school district, but it did not comment on the scope of the investigation.
Brewer said the organization and Rabidoux asked the investigation to be dropped. Brewer said they anticipate a response from the school district this week.
The matter prompted a number of bomb threats aimed at the school district this week forcing the closure of schools for several days. Plans are in place for virtual learning the remainder of the week.
Rabidoux said she wants to see her son’s record cleared.
“The fact that they’re slapped with sexual harassment for misprouning— that is what’s not right,” she said