<![CDATA[Groomers]]>

Michigan Education Department Training Teachers to Conceal Students’ Transgender Identity From Parents

August 16, 2022 by Jeff Charles Leave a Comment

Remember when I wrote that article about how a California school district enlisted lawyers to train teachers to hide students’ gender identity from their parents? Well, it appears Michigan is also getting in on the act. How many more districts are doing the same?

The Daily Caller reported that the Michigan Department of Education (MDOE) has instituted trainings and resources to help educators and school staff assist children who believe they are transgender to transition to the opposite sex – without their parent’s knowledge or consent.

From the report:

The MDOE’s LGBTQ Students Project includes trainings and resources for LGBTQ students as well as educators on addressing students’ gender identity and sexual orientation in school, according to department training videos. The videos feature MDOE officials who advise the educators to hide students’ name or pronoun changes from parents.

Kim Phillips-Knope, a project lead of the MDOE’s LGBTQ Students Project, said in one of the training videos that “students have privacy rights” and that “schools don’t have a legal obligation to tell parents that a student goes by a different name or pronouns than their legal name.”

The official instructed teachers to allow the students to decide if they want their parents to be notified about their transitions. This means that educators won’t “unintentionally out a student to their family.”

This instruction is in line with the policies implemented by various school districts in Illinois, California, Wisconsin, and several other states.

In another video, a trainer says gender fluidity should be “normalized by age 5,” according to the Daily Caller. “Educators are also taught ways they can change or hide a student’s name in their roster without changing any data that may be accessible to parents.”

But this initiative goes even further than teachers encouraging children to transition to the opposite gender. The Daily Caller also noted:

In 2017, the MDOE issued their guidance on creating a “safe and supportive” environment for LGBTQ students which included providing “professional development opportunities on issues affecting LGBTQ students to district staff and board members.” The MDOE suggested that the training should extend past educators to “coaches, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and administrative support staff.”

In California, the Glendale School District offered similar guidance to its teachers. The lawyers in the training recommended that they conceal documents like their Gender Support Plan, a blueprint for helping a student socially transition, and giving students two ID cards, one with the child’s given name and one with their chosen name.

There has been a nationwide backlash against the infusion of far-leftist views on gender identity, sexuality, and race. But stories like these show that progressives are undeterred in their efforts to indoctrinate and groom small children. The battle over this issue will be fierce, but those opposing this effort are mobilized and fired up. Hopefully, there will be more ways to protect children from this indoctrination effort.

Democrats Make Another Desperate Attempt to Block Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law

August 6, 2022 by Jeff Charles Leave a Comment

They tried online pressure campaigns. They tried lying. They even tried false allegations of bigotry. But now, Democrats are attempting to use the court system to defeat Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which went into effect in July.

It appears the fight for parents’ rights in Florida is not over yet. These states seem to think they can accomplish what the Walt Disney Company could not.

According to a recent report, 16 states have filed lawsuits against the Sunshine State for implementing a law prohibiting teachers from instructing small children on sexuality and gender identity, along with requiring them to inform parents of major issues related to their children’s health. Axios reported: “Attorneys general from 16 states have opposed Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Bill, arguing it lacks educational merit and harms students and teachers.”

The report also explains:

The plaintiffs include the District of Columbia, as well as New Jersey, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, and Oregon.

In an amicus brief supporting plaintiffs in the Equality Florida v. Florida State Board of Education, these Democratic officials argued that the legislation is a threat to both students and teachers. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released a statement arguing that under the law, Florida’s kids, parents, and teachers “can’t speak their truth.”

In the brief, the attorneys general referred to the law as “extreme” and unconstitutional. “In short, Florida’s extreme approach implies the absence of a legitimate pedagogical purpose, rendering its restrictions on speech and targeting of a minority highly suspect,” the brief read. “And (the 15) states’ experiences show that reasonable policies are available that include LGBTQ people, foster free speech, and accommodate parents. Florida’s turn, instead, to restricting speech and targeting a minority supplies additional evidence of the act’s unconstitutionality.”

Now that the Florida law has passed and is currently being implemented by the state’s school districts, this appears to be a last-ditch effort to overturn it – or at least tie it up in litigation so that districts can continue engaging in grooming activity and leaving parents out of the equation. But the fact of the matter is that, despite progressives’ fearmongering, the law is not going to victimize members of the LGBTQ community. In fact, the Orange County School District issued guidance to teachers that address some of the fears that some teachers have.

The reality is that the Parental Rights in Education law is designed to protect parents’ rights. It prevents educators from introducing material to small children that are not age-appropriate and ensures parents are informed about what is going on with their kids. A slew of reports have demonstrated that school districts in other states have policies specifically designed to keep parents out of the process. Schools can help a student who believes they are transgender transition to the opposite gender without their parents’ consent or knowledge.

This is precisely what Florida’s law is designed to prevent, which is why the far-left is so upset with it. Like Terry McAuliffe and Beto O’Rourke, they believe parents should not have a say in how their children are educated, so it makes sense they would be trying so hard to block the legislation. Hopefully, their latest efforts will not succeed.

Orlando School District Proves Progressives Are Lying About the Parental Rights in Education Bill

August 6, 2022 by Jeff Charles Leave a Comment

Now that school is about to start again, teachers are supposedly stressing themselves out in droves as they figure out how to comply with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law that was passed earlier in 2022. At least, this is what Democrats and their comrades in the activist media want us to believe.

However, the truth appears to be quite different, as teachers in the Sunshine State are receiving guidance preparing them for how to approach the issues addressed by the legislation. In fact, it doesn’t seem likely that the law, which prohibits instructing children younger than seven years old on sexuality and gender identity, will be nearly as gargantuan an issue as progressives have indicated.

But if you read the news reports, you would think teachers are sweating bullets about the idea that teachers should not teach small children about sexuality or gender identity. Spectrum News published a report insinuating this is the case. Clinton McCracken, a gay man who is the president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, told the news outlet that LGBTQ teachers are “anxious” about the idea that they might be “targeted” by the law. He said these individuals are concerned that their district will “caution against family pictures in the classroom or pride flags in case that prompts talk on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“If there is some kind of instruction to those teachers that they should be more cautious for whatever reason, that is telling those teachers that there is something wrong with them or that only the K [through] three teachers need to go back into the closet,” he said.

Well, I’ve got some good news for Mr. McCracken.

According to guidance from the Orange County School District obtained by RedState, he has nothing to worry about. The documentation addresses his concerns, as well as others, when it comes to complying with the law.

The first part of the guidance details how schools should comply with the part of the law that mandates that educators inform parents if their child discusses personal information or has a change in student services that are tied to a student’s mental or physical health. It says “a change in student services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being” includes “[n]ew scheduled mental health counseling” and “scheduled behavior intervention.”

The law also notes that teachers are required to inform parents when there is “a change in monitoring,” which includes “[s]chool counselor follow up services” or “[f]ollow up by the teacher or other school personnel after the student discloses personal information to the teacher or other school personnel.”

One of the objections coming from the left to these provisions is that they could result in children facing abuse. However, the law addresses this possibility as well. The document says that if a teacher is confronted with a situation in which “a reasonably prudent person would believe that the disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment or neglect,” they are allowed to withhold information from the parent.

The school district’s guidance also explained to teachers that “The [Parental Rights in Education] Bill equally prohibits instruction on heterosexuality and all other types of sexuality.”

It also explains: “Nothing in that language ‘aims at sexual orientations and gender identities that differ from heterosexual and cisgender identities.’ To the contrary, instruction on ‘the normalcy of opposite-sex attraction’ would equally be ‘instruction on sexual orientation.’”

Even further, the document reads:

“There is no merit, for example, to the suggestion that the statute restricts gay and transgender teachers from ‘put[ting] a family photo on their desk’ or ‘refer[ring] to themselves and their spouse (and their own children).’ Those actions are not ‘instruction,’ which is ‘the action, practice, or profession of teaching.’”

Despite what progressives are trying to convince us to believe, the law does not penalize teachers for merely mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity, and delineates the difference between “mention” and “instruction.”

“The Bill restricts ‘instruction’ on sexual orientation and gender identity, not mere discussion of those subjects,” the document reads. It further explains:

“[T]he mere wearing of an ‘Ally’ lanyard or rainbow symbols on clothing or in classrooms, or the display of ‘safe space’ stickers in the classroom are not ‘classroom instruction’ as defined by the State in its Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit seeking to invalidate House Bill 1557.”

According to the guidance being given to teachers, none of the horror stories progressives are predicting are likely to occur. A teacher with the school district told RedState: “Teachers that I know who read it seemed relieved. They said it certainly cleared up a lot of misconceptions they had about the bill.”

The bottom line is that the notion that teachers should not instruct small children on matters pertaining to sexuality and gender is a sentiment with which most Americans – including a significant percentage of Democrats – agree. Polling has shown this to be true.

Still, progressives are still going to pull out all the stops to deceive the public into thinking the law is somehow going to make life harder for LGBTQ students and teachers. But in reality, the legislation protects the rights of parents, which is something the far left just can’t accept.

Here is the documentation, if you wish to read it for yourself: