Although Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a joint memo with Attorney General Jeff Sessions in February rescinding the Obama administration’s “guidance” to schools on transgender bathroom policy, a recent memo reveals that her Department has not been immune to political pressure from the LGBTQ rights movement.

In the memo dated June 6, Candice Jackson, acting assistant secretary of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, said that failure to use a transgender student’s preferred name or pronoun is gender-based harassment and grounds for an investigation.

That means that if a teacher calls little Johnny “he” when Johnny would prefer to be called “she,” the Education Department could launch an investigation into that teacher for “harassing” the student.

Beyond the obvious threat this policy represents to free speech and conscience rights, it also doesn’t make sense from a scientific standpoint. Credible studies which are cited even by LGBTQ activists show that “80 to 95 percent of children with gender dysphoria will come to identify with and embrace their bodily sex.” If they are encouraged and continue to identify as transgender, however, they could be at increased risk for serious health issues and even suicide (41 percent of transgender persons will attempt suicide, compared to the 4.6 percent suicide attempt rate nationwide).

Why is the Department of Education encouraging gender confusion in children by allowing them to be called any name or pronoun they want? Why are they pushing children along the road which leads to higher rates of suicide? Why are they threatening teachers who would prefer to call these students by their birth name or pronoun?

These are all questions of the utmost importance. For the sake of parents and their children, the Department ought to be made to answer them.