As the fight for parental rights in education intensifies, several pro-trans activist groups have pushed back. The organization Parents Defending Education compiled a list of organizations that promote gender ideology to children in schools, sometimes starting as young as kindergarten.
This is of specific interest to parents of children with autism. Being on the autism spectrum increases a person’s likelihood of identifying as transgender or “non-binary” by up to a factor of six.
Here are 8 of these groups and some of the materials they advance to students in taxpayer-funded schools and education programs.
Advocates of Youth
The innocuously-named non-profit developed an equally harmlessly-titled curriculum entitled “Rights, Respect, Responsibility” (3Rs). However, instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic, this plan teaches “honest, inclusive sex education” to students of all grade levels.
Concepts 3Rs teach kindergarteners include “same gender parents,” the notion that boys “can have” female body parts, and vice-versa. Lesson 2 of the kindergarten curriculum states, “Most people have a vulva or a penis but some people’s bodies can be different.”
First graders are introduced to the idea of “sexual abuse,. Instructors are prompted to explain to them, “We touch people all the time, and people touch us.”
Advocates of Youth’s website also features a page for 3Rs administrators to request activist support if they deem the controversial program to be “under attack” in their school.
According to Parents Defending Education, states with schools that teach lessons crafted by Advocates for Youth include Florida, Illinois and New Jersey.
Gender Spectrum
An activist organization that promotes transgender and “non-binary” identities in children, Gender Spectrum developed a laundry list of ideas for teachers to “integrate” gender ideology in the lesson plans of various unrelated school subjects such as English, foreign languages, history, math, science, art, and physical education.
In addition to its foray into school curricula, the group prides itself on its numerous “resources” including a book entitled “The Transgender Child” and online gender “consulting” for minors who identify as transgender or “non-binary.” Gender Spectrum’s website also incorporates slogans from other left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter.
GLSEN
GLSEN (pronounced “glisten”) was founded by Obama administration official Kevin Jennings to make schoolchildren of all ages aware of sexual orientation and gender identity. On its website, the 30-year-old organization states, “We understand the importance of beginning conversations about LGBTQ people and families in elementary school.”
Resources GLSEN recommends to grade school students include the “gender triangle education guide.” The description states, “It is critical that we allow space for people to self-identify. Some may feel that their bodies are distinct from their gender while others feel that the two are interrelated.”
GSA Network
While the previous focus on shaping school lesson plans, the Genders & Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network acts primarily through extracurricular activities. The Network describes itself as “a next-generation LGBTQ racial and gender justice organization that empowers and trains queer, trans and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement.”
GSA currently has over 4,000 chapters throughout the United States. Historically known as the “Gay-Straight Alliance Network,” the school club system changed its name in 2016 to become more “inclusive.”
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
Easily recognized by its ubiquitous logo – a yellow equals sign on a blue background – the HRC has been a leading force in LGBTQ activism for over four decades. Primarily focusing on political lobbying, the HRC has repeatedly attempted to block pro-parent legislation.
In 2022, HRC lobbyists joined a chorus of left-wing activists denouncing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which they termed “DeSantis’s ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ Law.” They claimed that by preventing classroom discussion and instruction on topics of gender and sexuality to students in the third grade or younger, Florida was “targeting LGBTQ+ youth and turning back the clock on equality.”
HRC also slammed a similar parental rights bill that ultimately passed the North Carolina Senate in February 2023. In October 2022, they denounced a federal bill by Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) that would expand parents’ rights nationwide.
Learning for Justice
Though best known for pushing Critical Race Theory in schools, Learning for Justice also promotes gender ideology through its “Social Justice Standards” program, which it calls “a road map for anti-bias education at every grade level.”
In one of the lessons this program teaches to five- to eight year-olds, teachers are directed to read a script in which a fictitious student who has “two moms” states, “My moms love each other, and then they decided they wanted to have me.”
In a lesson taught to third through fifth graders, instructors describe a biologically male student named “Tiana” who comes out to her family as a “transgender girl,” saying, “I’m a sister and a she.”
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) was founded in 1964 by abortion advocate and student of Margaret SangerDr. Mary Calderone, who served as Planned Parenthood’s medical director in the 1950s.
Today SIECUS bills itself dismantling “the systems of power and oppression which perpetuate disparate sexual and reproductive health outcomes and incubate stigma and shame around sex and sexuality across the intersections of age, race, size, gender, gender identity and expression, class, sexual orientation, and ability.”
In May 2022, SIECUS launched a web campaign called “Masturbation May,” stating, “Masturbation is a healthy activity, where one can discover their body, and learn what they do and don’t like.” They urged the teaching of what they deemed to be the “benefits” of masturbation to children, in spite of backlash from conservatives and the Catholic Church.
Planned Parenthood
The abortion industry giant, which has long-provided school programs that target children as young as ten, has also started to perform so-called “gender-affirming care” on minors.
On its website, Planned Parenthood states, “Your gender identity is real, and there are medical treatments you can use to help your body better reflect who you are.” This includes both the dissemination of puberty blockers and so-called gender-affirming hormone therapy.
What did we miss? Do you see additional programs in your school district? Send your tips to info@catholicvote.org.
