*Gender Ideology in Schools (PDF Download)
What’s at Stake
Some teachers and school counselors are pushing children down a path of gender transition, often without their parents’ knowledge or permission. But “affirming” a child’s gender identity and encouraging him or her to pursue “gender-affirming care” carries serious medical risks.
School staff pressure emotionally vulnerable children to transition to a new gender identity.
- Schools tell highly sensitive children, often girls, that, regardless of their struggles with depression, anxiety, obsession rumination, or eating disorders, cutting off their breasts (“top surgery”) and a lifetime of high-risk testosterone injections (“gender-affirming care”) will bring them “trans joy.”
- Public school policies punish school staff, students, and parents who do not adhere to this radical belief system.
State and district policies hide information from parents.
- Activist-drafted policies require schools to transition children and then hide their new names, identities, and pronouns from parents through “Gender Support Plans.”
- These plans are based on the radical assumption that the only option is an immediate and unquestioning affirmation of a new identity.
Most Americans do not want gender ideology taught in schools. And yet, gender activistdrafted lessons, books, and materials can be found in classrooms across the country.
The Way Forward
Policymakers should protect vulnerable children and preserve parental rights. Some states are already taking action:
- Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law ensures that young students are not exposed to gender ideology lessons.
- The Virginia Department of Education’s revised “model policies” involve parents if a child requests a name and pronoun change.
Education freedom empowers parents to protect their children from gender ideology. Parents desperate to protect their children from cult-like indoctrination and secretive gender transitions need to leave the public school system, but not all families can afford alternative options. If governors and state legislators are serious about empowering parents to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their own children, they must ensure that education funding follows students to education options chosen by parents.
