In recent years, critical gender theory activists have turned America’s education system into a tool to reach millions of children in an effort to teach and promote gender ideology. Schools now teach students—including kindergartners—that gender is malleable and disconnected from one’s sex.
Evolutionary biologist Colin Wright explains gender ideology this way:
Proponents of gender ideology have completely decoupled the terms “man,” “woman,” “boy” and “girl” from biological sex. Gender ideology teaches that the terms “man/boy” and “woman/girl”—and their corresponding “he/his” and “she/her” pronouns—refer to a person’s gender identity, while “male” and “female” refer to biological sex. While you may define a woman as a female human adult, gender ideology contends that a “woman” is an adult of either sex who simply “identifies” as a woman.
…
The clear message of gender ideology is that, if you’re a female who doesn’t “identify with” the social roles and stereotypes of femininity, then you’re not a woman; if you’re a male who similarly rejects the social roles and stereotypes of masculinity, then you’re not a man. Instead, you’re considered either transgender or nonbinary, and Planned Parenthood assures you that “there are medical treatments you can use to help your body better reflect who you are.” According to this line of thinking, certain personalities, behaviors and preferences are incompatible with certain types of anatomy.
(Wall Street Journal)
Resources
Gender Ideology 101
In recent years, critical gender theory activists have turned America’s education system into a tool to reach millions of children in an effort to teach and promote gender ideology.
Resources
Understanding Gender Jargon
Many of these terms are used to confuse and manipulate students starting in kindergarten in the name of gender ideology. All definitions are taken from the Human Rights Campaign…
Resources
Questions to Ask Your School about Gender Ideology and Gender Policy
Gender Ideology & Gender Policies Do you teach students that biological sex is binary?Do you use terms like, “sex assigned at birth” or teach students that doctors…
Resources
Groups Pushing Gender Ideologies in Schools
GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educator Network, Planned Parenthood, Learning for Justice, Gender Spectrum, CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Panorama Education Inc., Human Rights Campaign, Advocates for…
Resources
Gender Identity Guidance – Departments of Education by State
Below you’ll find a list of links to state department of education websites for each state regarding their policies, guidance and/or recommendations regarding gender identity and transgender students in schools.
Resources
List of School District Transgender – Gender Nonconforming Student Policies
Last Update: October 30, 2024 Below is a list of school districts by state that have Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policies that openly state that district personnel can or should keep a…
Investigations
GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network
What is GLSEN? GLSEN is a national activist group focused on, according to the organization’s website, “championing LGBTQ issues in K-12 education.” GLSEN (pronounced “glisten”)…
Resources
PDE Live: Gender & Title IX
On this month’s Parents Defending Education Live, we’ll discuss Title IX & Gender. You’ve probably heard he term “Title IX” in relation to college sports or regarding bullying & harassment,…
Resources
VIDEO: Gender Support Plans
Have you heard of ‘gender support plans’? Parents Defending Education’s Director of Outreach, Erika Sanzi, explains what they are and shares some recent examples from our schools.
Resources
Autism & Gender Identity
There is increasing awareness among parents, caregivers, clinicians and therapists that there is a clear link between gender identity issues and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Resources
Send a Letter to your School District Voicing Concerns about TrevorSpace
From Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty: Concerns about TrevorSpace Forum and Why Districts Should Decline to Promote it as a “Crisis Support Resource” for Students.
Resources
What Americans Need to Know About How Western Europe Is Protecting Children from Gender Ideology
UPDATED August 25, 2023 – Western Europe is walking back its laws and changing its care model for youth seeking assistance to change their gender. On the contrary, the United…
Resources
Trending Incidents
Transgender student creates hit list of families and staff at Watertown Public Schools; school district discusses creating LGBTQ affinity group as “empathy for the creator” of the list
A concerned community member informed Parents Defending Education that a transgender student in middle school within Watertown Public Schools created a hit list with the names of families and staff…
Incidents
Rochester Public Schools has secret policy that appears to state staff can keep the gender identity of students hidden from parents; forces staff to use preferred pronouns of students under threat of “termination”
A concerned community member provided Parents Defending Education with a transgender policy for Rochester Public Schools that is not public. The policy explains that it was created by the superintendent…
Incidents
12-year-old student invited to after-school art club finds herself in a meeting about trans and queer identity where she is told to keep secrets and that parents aren’t safe
On May 4th, 2021, Erin Lee’s 12-year-old daughter was invited by her art teacher, Jenna Riep, at Wellington Middle School in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado,…
Incidents
Chicago Public Schools’ health education ‘scope and sequence’ includes teaching pre-kindergarteners to “correctly identify body parts typically considered private including nipples, penis, anus and vulva”; requires first graders to define “gender identity”; tells third graders that “sex is assigned at birth”; and introduces fifth graders to “puberty blocker medications.”
Chicago Public Schools’ Personal Health and Safety Education & Sexual Health Education Scope and Sequence includes teaching pre-kindergarteners to “correctly identify body parts typically considered private (genitals),” teaches…
Incidents
Rochester Public Schools provides training that has staff participate in a “Social Justice Stretch”; staff are taught to embrace LGBTQ ideology with the “Genderbread Person”; staff are told not to tell parents about their children’s gender identity
Parents Defending Education previously reported on an internal transgender policy used by staff at Rochester Public Schools. PDE sent a public records request to the district…
Incidents
Alpine School District has guidance to keep gender identity of students hidden from parents; Utah State Board of Education provides guidance to districts that advises them to keep gender identity hidden from parents
Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Alpine School District seeking any transgender guidance used for students. The district provided PDE with a document titled “Guiding Principles…
Incidents
West Potomac High School’s theatre group hosting “Drag Brunch”
West Potomac High School’s “Beyond the Page Theatre Company” in Virginia is promoting a “Drag Brunch” on May 4, 2024. The theatre group’s website states: “Join…
Incidents
Denver Public Schools has mandatory ethnic studies curriculum for ninth grade students that teaches them to embrace collectivism over individualism; teaches students that gender exists on a spectrum; teaches students to “dismantle systems of power”
Parents Defending Education obtained the curriculum to a ninth grade “Introduction to Ethnic Studies” course for the 2023-2024 school year at Denver Public Schools. PDE was told by a concerned…
Incidents
Natick Public Schools has policy that appears to keep gender identity of students hidden from parents
Natick Public Schools has a policy in place titled “Gender Identity Support” that was adopted on October 15, 2018. The policy states that students can participate in school activities according…
Incidents
Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School seventh grade science teacher provides personality test to students that determines “romantic (or love/sexual) tendencies”; provides assignment with links to websites that promote “sex dolls” and “sex toys”
On January 5, 2024, the organization Sage Ops reported on X that a seventh grade science teacher at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School in New York…
Incidents
Nebo School District provided training to staff that appears to explain the gender identity of students can be hidden from parents; provided training on “implicit bias” that specifically targeted “white students”
Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Nebo School District seeking any transgender guidance used for students. The district provided PDE with several training presentations for staff…
Incidents
Los Angeles Unified School District will teach students to support disrupting the “Western nuclear family” and transgender issues during Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action despite the organization’s defense of Hamas
On December 27, 2023, City Journal reported that the Los Angeles Unified School District will be hosting a “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action”…
Incidents
Investigations
CorruptED
Colleges of Education and the Teacher as Activist Pipeline Total number of states: 34 Total number of universities: 67 Total number of syllabi: 112 Total number of course catalogs/descriptions: 58…
Investigations
LGBTQ Charter Schools Receiving Tax Dollars
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that typically operate independently from school district systems. Because these schools are public, they are funded with state and federal tax dollars. A recent…
Investigations
List of Districts that offer School-Based Health Centers
Below is a non-exhaustive list of school districts that offer School-Based Health Centers. KEY + School district has transgender policy that allows staff to hide gender…
Investigations
School-Based Health Centers
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) are touted by proponents as a component of the education trend du jour, “wrap-around services,” which theorizes…
Investigations
Documents reveal that the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been running a research study on the effects of puberty blockers on youth.
A document received in a Freedom of Information Act request reveals that the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been running a “research study” involving youth with the intent to…
Investigations
List of districts by state that recommend The Trevor Project as a resource
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on “building a safer, more inclusive world,” states that its mission is to “end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer…
Investigations
Corpus Christi teachers union distributes LGBTQ+ books to students as young as five; promote the initiative with drag performers
The Corpus Christi American Federation of Teachers distributed hundreds of LGBTQ+ novels to students, as part of its Pride Patrol campaign to educate children on pronoun usage and LGBTQ rights.
Resources
California school district surveys middle schoolers on Title IX issues
Sacramento City Unified School District is surveying middle school students on “gender equity.” The California school district conducts a school climate survey every year in which it asks students in…
Resources
‘National School Counseling Week 2022’ reveals how K-12 schools increasingly try to get into children’s heads with activist agendas
Everyone cares about the wellbeing of children. Unfortunately, the launch of “National School Counseling Week 2022” from Monday, February 7, through Friday, February 11, illustrates how a national network…
Press Releases
Stay Informed