Georgetown Day School teaches students about so-called “anti-LGBTQ” bills with lesson and school-wide art collage project

  • Georgetown Day School - District of Columbia

Incidents

Issues

Georgetown Day School students “across the grade levels” spent class time “learning about” and “creating artwork” about what the school calls “anti-LGBTQ bills” passed recently in Florida and Texas, according to a March 10, 2022 post from the school’s official Instagram account.

The post was titled “Protect Trans Kids” and explained that the art project was a response to so-called “new anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed in state legislatures.” A video accompanying the post showed the art project lining the walls at the school. 

Many of the posters included the message “Say Gay,” “Shout Gay,” and “Gay,” indicating that students were taught that Florida HB 1557 is the “don’t say gay” bill. Other posters characterized the bills as “hate.” Some posters explained various LGBTQ flags including the “bisexual” flag, “pansexual” flag, “aromantic” flag and “asexual” flag. Other messages included “trust your child to know their own heart” and “we are not confused.”

International Transgender Day of Visibility

It is unclear how Georgetown Day School students marked “International Transgender Day of Visibility” on March 31, 2022. As of April 1, 2022, the school has not posted any news to its “GDS News” page on the school’s website since March 16 and has not posted to Instagram since March 17.

For last year’s “International Transgender Day of Visibility” the school posted a message on its website on March 31, 2021 telling students to “show up and advocate” and to “use your voice, your platform, and your network to communicate your support for transgender rights.”

The website post suggested students oppose certain pieces of legislation: “New bills targeting trans youth have been proposed” that “create great harm to the transgender community.” 

“Thrilled” is how one third grade teacher and High School running coach at the school characterized her reaction to learning that “a handful of my former students and High School runners have transitioned after graduation.”

Human Rights Campaign activism comes to school

The website post also directed students to three resources from the LGBTQ activist group, The Human Rights Campaign.

  1. The HRC virtual event presentation held the next day on April 1, 2021 titled “Fierce, Fabulous and Fighting for Our Lives”
  2. The HRC article and video “HRC Honors International Transgender Day of Visibility”
  3. The HRC list of children’s books
WS-Great-Diverse-Books-Transgender-Non-Binary-ChildrenDownload

Connections to corporate activism

On April 1, 2022, Politico reported that tech giant Apple’s senior director of corporate communications, Fred Sainz, a former executive at the Human Rights Campaign, contacted other Fortune 500 firms to coordinate an effort to denounce the same legislation that Georgetown Day Students were protesting. 

The Human Rights Campaign issued an “International Transgender Day of Visibility” press release on March 31, 2022, saying “the Biden-Harris Administration’s announcement of major policy reforms that will benefit transgender and non-binary people” were “included in HRC’s 2020 Blueprint for Positive Change” recommendations.

The-HRC-Blueprint-2020Download

The connection between Apple and the Human Rights Campaign goes back over a quarter of a century. After the HRC’s founder resigned for health reasons in the early 1990s, an Apple executive, Elizabeth Birch, took over as president of the organization in 1995.

“Gender-affirming” care

The Human Rights Campaign “Blueprint” calls for “gender-affirming” care. On March 31, 2022, the Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs released a document titled “Gender Affirming Care and Young People” which explained that “gender-affirming” care for adolescents includes:

  • Social affirmation
  • Puberty blockers
  • Hormone therapy
  • Gender-affirming surgeries

The Georgetown Day School’s March 31, 2021 website post calls for students to support “gender-affirming care.” One GDS lower school teacher says:

“Gender-affirming healthcare specifically is crucial to the transgender community and is something that I do not believe I would be where I am today without.”

The Human Rights Campaign 2020 “Blueprint” also includes a section for “White House/executive and interagency actions” including suggestions for federal judiciary appointments. 

According to Wikipedia, Georgetown Day School “has educated the children of several high-ranking government officials, including Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, United States Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Texas Senator Phil Gramm, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, as well as Supreme Court nominee and federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.”