Denver Public Schools created documentary to promote transgender issues to children titled “Reclaiming the Narrative: A Documentary About LGBTQ+ Students”

Parents Defending Education acquired an email from an employee of Denver Public Schools to the Trans Educators Network (TEN). This employee’s email signature has his position as “Program Manager, LGBTQ+ Equity Initiatives” with the pronouns “He/Him/ & They/Them” listed. This employee is also named on the district’s website under the page “LGBTQ+ Efforts.” The email is dated December 9, 2024.

TEN is an organization that “seeks to build community among transgender, genderqueer, and/or non-binary identified educators (or anyone who doesn’t fit neatly into prescribed definitions of male/female), primarily those working with PreK-12 populations across the United States and Canada.” The group states: “We believe that ending white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and settler colonialism is necessary for trans freedom.”

The district employee explains in the email to TEN that he is “transmasculine, genderqueer educator–former classroom teacher and now program manager of LGBTQ+ equity initiatives for Denver Public Schools.” He explains:

Last year, our district partnered with A Queer Endeavor, a center for GSD in education for teachers at the University of Colorado Boulder to create a documentary about what’s really missing in LGBTQ+ professional development, the voices of youth themselves and portraits that aptly capture the dynamic complexity of their lived experiences as smart, funny, complicated, whole humans who have embodied knowledge, ideas, and advice to inform how to make schools places of possibility.

A Queer Endeavor states online: “We believe that transformative justice in education relies on intersectional movement building and a commitment to collective liberation.” The group explains: “Drawing on critical, queer, and anti-oppressive perspectives, we design and facilitate professional learning experiences for teachers, counselors, school- and district-leaders, and youth-serving adults.” The group is part of the University of Colorado Boulder.

The school district’s documentary is titled “Reclaiming the Narrative: A Documentary About LGBTQ+ Youth.” He states that the documentary “invites young people to reclaim the narrative about what it means to be queer and trans in K-12 schooling.” The documentary is promoted on the school district’s website. Denver Public Schools explains:

“Reclaiming the Narrative” is an important film that features the stories and perspectives of 16 students in 13 Denver high schools. Their stories paint a broader and more nuanced picture of LGBTQ+ youth. While recognizing some of the challenges LGBTQ+ students face in schools, their stories reframe and disrupt detrimental narratives with moments of joy and celebrations of intersectional identities. Denver Public Schools and A Queer Endeavor are confident the film—which will be the foundation for a new professional learning opportunity for educators in Colorado and beyond—will provide educators with a deeper understanding of the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth.

A Queer Endeavor also shares the same description of the documentary online. The documentary has a trailer posted on YouTube. The trailer starts with one person stating: “I want to be the role model for kids that look like me – another brown, queer, gay boy.” Another kid explains that he knew he was gay since kindergarten. One person in the trailer states that “gender is also so much more beyond male and female.”

The employee also had a link to the district’s “LGBTQ+ Tool Kit” in his email signature. PDE previously reported that this tool kit instructs district and school staff to hide a student’s gender transition from parents and allows students to use facilities and go on overnight trips based on their gender “expressed at school.” The tool kit explicitly states: “Do not share information about a student’s transition without their express, documented consent—this may violate the student’s FERPA rights and can potentially put the student in danger.” The document also states that the school district “does not require parent/guardian notification or permission to use a student’s self-asserted name and/or pronouns at school.”