Three school counselors in Amherst, Massachusetts, have been placed on administrative leave since mid-May after a student newspaper reported anonymous accusations of “misgendering” and “anti-LGBTQ prayer at school,” which triggered a Title IX investigation.
Adjustment counselor Hector Santos and guidance counselors Delinda Dykes and Tania Cabrera of Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School were first placed on leave after the Amherst-Pelham Regional High School’s student newspaper published an article alleging years of complaints about the Christians to school leadership. Santos and Dykes are now facing a Title IX investigation.
In the article, anonymous sources criticized the counselors for repeated “misgendering” and expressions of their “religious views at work.” “Misgendering” is a term used by LGBT activists to describe referring to a person by the pronouns that correspond to his or her natural sex, rather than a transgender persona. Many Christians and even non-Christians feel a moral responsibility to use pronouns that reflect truth and reality.
One anonymous source claimed that in a before-school prayer circle — which “did not involve students or teachers” — Dykes included a petition to “bind that LGBTQ gay demon that wants to confuse our children.” An unnamed family reportedly terminated counseling sessions for their child to avoid “religious comments.”
