ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa.—Just days after President Trump was sworn in for a second term in January, an ebullient local pastor approached the microphone at the school-board meeting here.
“Wow, what a difference a week makes, huh?” Doug Lamb, of nearby LifeGate Church told the board during the public-comment section. “It’s great to have the new administration in there, and I know that’s gonna be a little bit of your assistance behind you as schools have to make hard decisions like we’re discussing tonight.”
The board had already been conservative, but now it had the momentum of national politics on its side. The “hard decisions” became reality when they voted 8-1 to ban transgender athletes from contact sports and mandate parental permission for name or pronoun changes. A Christian religious-rights law firm, now working with 14 districts in Pennsylvania, helped draft the policies.
