Vermont Teachers Union Pushes Gender Identity in Sports, Raises Alarms About ‘White Privilege’

The Vermont teachers union formally recognizes students’ right to play sports based on “gender identity,” rather than biological sex.

The National Education Association Vermont chapter also asserts that the state’s public school teachers must acknowledge the nation’s “white supremacy culture” as responsible for “white privilege” that is “conferred irrespective of wealth, gender, and other factors.”

It also supports sanctuary jurisdictions for illegal immigrants.

The parental advocacy group Defending Education obtained a list of resolutions adopted at the Vermont NEA 2025 Representative Assembly.

“The fact that the state-level teachers union requires its members to ‘acknowledge’ that white supremacy culture permeates society shows just how ideologically captured the organization is,” Rhyen Staley, director of research at Defending Education, told the Daily Signal in a statement.

“It should be deeply concerning for parents that members of the union are to accept the far-left conspiracy theory and to become activists while roughly half of the state’s third graders are reading at below-proficient levels.” Staley added.

One resolution was a “Gender Equity in Athletic Programs” resolution.

“Vermont-NEA believes that at all educational levels female and male students must have equal opportunity to participate in athletic programs,” the resolution begins. “The association urges that athletic funds for facilities, equipment, and remuneration of staff be allocated equally between female and male programs.”

But it then takes a sharp turn.

“Vermont-NEA believes that all should have the opportunity to play recreational sports in accordance with their gender identity, irrespective of their gender assigned at birth, and to have their personal dignity respected.”

By 2025, many politicians and corporations were backing away from the pro-transgender movement embraced in previous years.

The 33-page resolution also addresses more-traditional education and teacher concerns such as school financing, improving and maintaining schools, pay structure, and distance learning.

But the resolutions also hit several key political points, such as concerns about what the union perceives as a “white supremacy culture.”

“Vermont-NEA believes that to achieve racial and social justice, educators must acknowledge the existence of White supremacy culture as a primary root cause of institutional racism, structural racism, and White privilege,” the resolution says.

The document defines an educator as any staff person who works directly with students.

“Additionally, the association believes that the norms, standards, and organizational structures manifested in White supremacy culture perpetually exploit and oppress people of color and serve as detriments to racial justice,” the resolution continues.

“Further, the invisible, racial benefits of white privilege, which are automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender, and other factors, severely limit opportunities for people of color and impede full achievement of racial and social justice,” the resolution says. “Therefore, the association will actively advocate for social and educational strategies fostering the eradication of institutional racism and white privilege perpetuated by white supremacy culture.”

The union’s resolution on immigration says it “deplores the hardships imposed on families when family members, especially parents, guardians, or caretakers, are detained and/or deported for immigration status offenses and thereby separated from their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens.”

“Additionally, the Association supports the creation of sanctuary cities and the right of these cities to refrain from asking persons about their immigration status and to disregard Federal requests to detain individuals who are undocumented,” the resolution continues.

Another resolution on climate change says the Vermont NEA “recognizes the scientific consensus that global climate change is largely caused by human activity, resulting in significant, measurable damage to the Earth and its inhabitants.”

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