New state health education standards include gender identity and expression objectives as part of guidelines for sex education in Michigan public schools.

State education officials said the updated standards do not change state law, which allows parents to opt their children out of sex education.

Michigan's State Board of Education approved on a 6-2 vote new state health education standards, which include expanded objectives around LGBTQ+ relationships and gender, after more than two hours of impassioned public comment and deliberation by the board during a meeting in Lansing on Thursday, Nov. 13.

The vote follows an outcry led by conservative groups and state Republican lawmakers over the standards' updates, particularly the inclusion of gender identity and expression. State academic s

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