Top Michigan education official can’t say how many genders there are: ‘Different people have different beliefs’

The video, taken during an Oct. 28 House committee hearing and reposted Sunday on X by LibsofTikTok, shows Republican state Rep. Jay DeBoyer pressing Chief Deputy Superintendent Dr. Sue Carnell on her position. DeBoyer asked twice, “How many genders are there?” Carnell did not give a number, instead replying, “Different people have different beliefs on that.”

Conservative lawmakers slammed the response. Tudor Dixon told Fox News that Democrats were “imposing [a] radical ideology” on Michigan classrooms. State Sen. Aric Nesbitt noted Michigan’s literacy rates and argued the exchange reflected broader failures in the state’s education leadership. Others on the right described Carnell’s answer as evasive and unacceptable for a senior official.

Carnell, in a follow-up statement, said the department’s position is outlined in recently approved health education guidelines and that “it’s not about gotcha questions.” She said the standards direct districts to teach students, by eighth grade, to define gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, and to explain how those concepts differ from biological sex.

The Michigan State Board of Education approved the new standards last week in a 6–2 vote despite objections from parents, pastors, and some lawmakers who argued the changes undermine parental authority and religious beliefs. The Department of Education has stressed that the standards are guidelines, not mandates, and that schools must still comply with state law.