LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Education is extending the public comment period on a controversial proposed policy for transgender and other sexually abnormal students amid a fierce backlash from parents and lawmakers.

The “State Board of Education Statement and Guidance on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Students” was set to be approved by the State Board of Education May 10, after a public comment period ending in April.

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State Superintendent Brian Whiston issued the document as a memorandum to the State Board of Education in February without a press release or significant media coverage.

The voluntary guidelines encourage schools to deceive parents if their children live a different gender identity at school than at home, push schools to do away with traditional gender-based activities or clubs, advise schools to infuse transgender equality into the curriculum, and set suggested policies on numerous transgender issues like access to school restrooms and shower facilities, school dress codes, and participation in sports.

Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter said parents are worried about student privacy issues that spawn from shared restroom and locker room facilities, among others.

“The greater public is just learning about this, and there’s a lot of concern about it,” Cotter said, according to The Detroit News. “So for that public comment period to end as soon as April 11 I think it too short. I think we have to allow some additional time, and my hope is at the end the board will change course on this and not issue that recommendation.”

When the transgender school policy became public last week, pressure from lawmakers and parents convinced the Michigan Department of Education to extend the public comment period for at least another month, spokesman Martin Ackley told The Detroit Free Press.

“The State Board wants to be very thoughtful in this discussion, hear all the imput, and clarify any misconceptions that may be out there,” Ackley said.

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That decision followed a vote by a state House budget subcommittee to strip state board members of travel funding, the Detroit News reports.

The “statement of guidance” states “districts should evaluate all gender-based programs and practices and maintain only those that have a clear and sound educational purpose” because “gender-based programs and practices can have the unintentional consequence of marginalizing, stigmatizing, and excluding transgender and (gender nonconforming) GNC students.”

At the same time, the board of education “encourages districts to … support the formation of extracurricular student-led clubs, such as Gay-Straight Alliances or Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) in middle and high schools, in accordance with local policies,” the document reads.

Also, “students should be allowed to use the restroom in accordance with their gender identity.” The board suggests the same for locker rooms and school shower facilities because “a student should not be required to use a locker room that is incongruent with their gender identity.”

Intramural and interscholastic sports, school dress codes, and physical education classes should also allow transgender or GNC students to play on teams that correspond to their gender identity, according to the proposed policy.

Schools should allow those students to live out their chosen gender identity at school, regardless of their parents’ perspective. Parents who don’t approve don’t deserve to know what’s going on at school unless the student gives officials explicit permission to reveal the details, the document states.

“Transgender and GNC students have the right to decide when, with whom, and to what extent to share private information,” the proposed policy reads. “When contacting the parent/guardian of a transgender or GNC student, school staff should use the student’s legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the student’s assigned sex at birth, unless the student or parent/guardian has specified otherwise.”

The suggested state transgender policy was discussed by the state board March 8, but board members did not send a copy of the memorandum to state lawmakers, as is typically the case.

“We heard from countless parents who are upset at being deliberately cut out of their children’s education, and are livid at a government body that is trying to cut them out under the cover of night,” Cotter said. “The word is out now on their divisive plan, and many parents are scrambling to have their voices heard.”

Since more parents became aware of the proposed policy, thousands of comments have poured into a state website, and most seem to be in opposition.

The Detroit Free Press highlighted many of the comments:

“I truly love the public education my children are receiving. I don’t want my children to grow up in a bubble, but this is too far.” — a parent

“Our schools are meant as a means of educating our children and not as indoctrination centers for radically leftist ideas and experiments. As much as the idea of a confused child wandering in an out of Boys and Girls restrooms/locker rooms at will bothers me it is infinitely worse to purposely keep their parents in the dark about it.

“I am deeply concerned that the implementation of these policies as written will take schools to a very dangerous place. As written, the LGBTQ child is given the right to choose any bathroom or locker room he/she chooses. What about the child who is straight and does not want to share a locker room or bathroom with someone of the opposite gender? Where are those rights?” — a parent and professor

“I support the changes that are proposed. It is time Michigan stopped living in the 18th Century. I realize certain legislators minds are troubled by thinking outside the box. They should find different employment. If Michigan fails to accommodate all its citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, then this state is no better than the backwards states in the south of this nation.” — a parent and taxpayer