Wake lawmaker floats sex-based dress code for NC teachers. Opponents question legality

A Wake County lawmaker wants to prevent elementary school employees from dressing in ways that don't conform with their biological sex.

State Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake, in a post on her campaign Facebook page Monday night, floated the idea of a state law that would require sex-based professional attire for public-school employees.

Paré posted about the issue after hearing concerns from parents about the possibility of a transgender teacher in their southern Wake County elementary school, describing the teacher as “biological male, who dresses as a woman.”

In a post Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter, Pare added that the Wake County school district should have policies that “protect children from being exposed to more complex and mature gender-identity questions and concepts at too young of an age.” 

Paré, one of only two Wake County Republicans in the legislature, is a top budget-writer in the state House. As a chairwoman on the House appropriations committee, she has a say on how state funds are spent on all manner of things, including education.

Her idea about attire could face an uphill battle against legal precedent. The proposal drew swift opposition from some on the other end of the political spectrum. 

Rep. Julia Greenfield, D-Mecklenburg, said a transgender teacher would not be a danger to students simply for being transgender. “We should judge educators by their professionalism, qualifications, and how they treat students–not by their gender identity or how they express themselves,” Greenfield wrote in a Facebook post.

Federal court decisions in recent years have protected employees from discrimination against their gender identity. One North Carolina charter school had its dress code — which required girls to wear skirts — struck down for violating Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination.

In an interview with WRAL News on Tuesday, Paré said she wasn't sure what the legal nuances would be around what she could do and didn't have a specific policy proposal planned.

Paré told WRAL News she was primarily concerned about elementary school students who might not be familiar with the concept of gender identity. She said she wasn't as concerned about middle- or high-school students that are likely already familiar with gender identity.

"It starts a conversation about gender identity in elementary school," Paré said. "Generally speaking, many parents believe that is too early."

Paré edited her post Wednesday afternoon to reflect her concern about age-appropriateness.

The Wake County Public School System’s policy bars discrimination in the hiring process of anyone over several things, including their gender identity.

“The district prohibits unlawful discrimination while taking into account all requirements in state and federal law," the district said in a statement to WRAL News.

In 2020, the school board changed a handful of policies to reflect various recent federal court decisions related to gender identity. That included its hiring policy.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia said civil rights protections on the basis of sex also included protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. That's because sexual orientation and gender identity are inseparable from sex, the majority contended in that 2020 decision.

“Transgender people live in every community and work in every field, including education,” Adam Polaski, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement to WRAL News. “All of us want to feel respected and safe at work, able to do our jobs with confidence and dignity. Proposals targeting transgender people for discrimination and harassment at work… are cruel and likely unlawful.”

The Supreme Court has since ruled against certain protections for the transgender community, including recently upholding state laws that prohibited transgender girls from competing in girls sports.

When it comes to dress code, federal courts haven't been as clear.

The Supreme Court in 2023 declined to hear a case brought against Charter Day School in Brunswick County, leaving a federal ruling in place. That ruling had struck down the school's sex-based dress code, which required girls to wear skirts. The court ruled that sex-based dress codes constituted sex discrimination under Title IX.

In 2024, Wake County updated its faculty and student dress codes to state that they cannot be applied in a way that is discriminatory against a protected class. The district includes gender identity among its protected classes.

Paré has represented her southern Wake County district since 2021. She’s seeking reelection in November in what could be one of the more competitive legislative races. The district includes parts of Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina. Paré won it by about 6 percentage points in 2024, down from almost 8 points in 2022. Democrats are hoping to flip the seat blue following strong showings in suburban Wake’s municipal elections in 2025. Winn Decker won the district’s Democratic primary in March. 

Republicans in North Carolina and other states have taken up a focus on transgender topics in recent years. The issue has energized voters in the GOP base. Republican lawmakers passed multiple laws in recent legislative sessions focused on medical care and athletic team participation by transgender children.

The issue hasn’t always been a winner for Republican candidates. North Carolina’s most recent Republican governor lost his job in 2016 amid a national backlash aimed at the state over a GOP-backed law that banned transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify as in all city, county and state buildings. That law, known as HB2 for the shorthand of its bill number, was seen as discriminatory by a number of businesses.

The law prompted PayPal, the online money-transfer service, to cancel a $3.5 million global operations center that would have employed 400 people in Charlotte. Lionsgate Films moved production for a comedy series pilot from Charlotte to Canada. Other firms threatened to halt expansion plans in the state. The NBA, NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference canceled athletic events. And more than 200 CEOs signed a letter calling on state leaders to repeal the law. The law was partially repealed after Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Republican Pat McCrory in the 2016 gubernatorial race.