In recent weeks, headlines have been full of local controversies over transgender indoctrination creeping into schools without parents’ knowledge. Three mothers in Pennsylvania are suing their children’s first-grade teacher for introducing classroom lessons on gender identity. Similarly, parents in New York City have been “shocked” to learn that city officials have spent more than $200,000 taxpayer dollars on drag queen events in the public schools.
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council said, “Schools are proving again and again that they are untrustworthy sources of information when it comes to human sexuality, and they are unable to use sound judgment to determine information that's age appropriate regarding human sexuality.”
The incident that led to the federal lawsuit near Pittsburgh transpired on March 31, the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Megan Williams, a first-grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School allegedly showed her students a video called “Jacob’s New Dress” and read transgender-themed books like “When Aiden Became a Brother” and “Introducing Teddy.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit states that Williams told the first graders that her biologically male child wore an “Elsa dress” for Halloween. Williams has also been accused of telling her students that sometimes “parents are wrong” about gender.
The parents who filed the lawsuit, Carmila Tatel, Stacy Dunn, and Gretchen Melton argue that Williams’s “unique perspectives and views” on gender did “not give her the right to impose those views on a captive audience of six- and seven-year-olds.” Mt. Lebanon School District Communications Director Kristen James responded by saying that the lawsuit is unfounded, and that parents are mischaracterizing events “for sensational effect.” She also emphasized that the district “looks forward to the opportunity to set the record straight” in court.
Kilgannon is encouraged that the Pittsburgh parents are taking a stand to protect their children from these “dangerous teachings” and is hopeful that the jury will rule in their favor.
“The reaction of the school to this is interesting,” commented Kilgannon. “They are claiming that this is ‘sensational,’ and that the parents are just doing this for attention. That’s really quite the irony, considering that the teacher in question is drawing attention needlessly to her personal life. … There are plenty of Christian teachers in the school system who didn’t give lessons about Ascension Thursday, for example, when Christ rose to heaven, and they didn’t provide a lesson about Pentecost, and they are forbidden from having a Christmas tree or a nativity set in their classrooms during the holidays. And so why are we going to allow a teacher to share her personal life in this way? And that’s just not appropriate. [T]hese are very young children. They truly are defenseless in this matter.”
Meanwhile, the New York Post revealed that Drag Story Hour NYC — a nonprofit organization focused on performers dressed in flamboyant genderbending outfits interacting with children — has been funded by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars.
According to the New York Post, the group has received a total of $207,000 since 2018. Through the New York State’s Council on the Arts the organization has received $50,000. Over the years, the Departments of Education, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Community Development and even the Department of Transportation have funneled $157,000 to the drag queen program. In May, Drag Story Hour NYC received $46,000 from city contracts from appearances in street festivals, libraries, and public schools.
This year alone, the group has organized 49 drag programs in 34 public elementary, middle, and high schools. There have also been reported cases of drag queens performing before audiences with children as young as three without parental consent.
Cross-dressed performers typically read aloud from books that share LGBTQ messaging such as “The Rainbow Fish” and “The Hips of the Drag Queen go Swish, Swish, Swish.” While some teachers are outraged at public school exposing their children to sexuality prematurely, the members of Drag Story Hour NYC argue that they are teaching children acceptance and inclusion.
Kilgannon said, “The school really is substituting their judgment and their expertise over the judgment of parents who are experts on their own children. And so, when they are offering this kind of sexualized programming and they are insisting that it is the children’s right to have this information — or this is critical to affirming children in this or that identity —, [it’s] a huge, huge assault on a boundary that is dangerous for our society.”
That being said, Kilgannon encourages parents to be proactive by being hypervigilant about what their children are being taught.
“You need to check in with them every day about the events of the day and what has happened at school. It’s just critically important that your child knows that they can come to you and they can tell you anything … and that you have their back.”
