If ever there were a story that would make you want to homeschool your children, this would be it. The Austin Independent School District (ISD) has a new sexual education curriculum – and it looks like something you would expect in California, not Texas.
Austin School District’s New Sex-Ed Curriculum
The Austin ISD recently voted to formally adopt an extremely left-wing sex education curriculum against the objections of over a hundred parents protesting the move. The new guidelines for Austin teachers promote a decidedly progressive approach to sexuality and also vilifies more traditional views on the subject.
Not only does the curriculum teach children about various types of sexuality and gender identity, but it also encourages them to stand against “injustice” when it comes to addressing homophobia. Of course, there is nothing wrong with children standing up to legitimate bullies, but it’s not hard to see how the left can define any opinion that contradicts theirs as bullying.
In each age range, including third grade, teachers will learn about the different categories of the LGBT community. One lesson involves the children playing a matching game where they match words like “bisexual,” “gay,” and “transgender” with their definitions.
Under the new curriculum, educators will also teach kids to use “inclusive language.” The document explains that “in these lessons, gender neutral language is used to be inclusive of all students including those with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations.”
The lessons also include the use of video to reinforce progressive ideas about sexuality and gender identity. One of the presentations features two cartoon birds of varying genders. They each go into a changing room and emerge as one being the stereotypical version of a male or female, and the other not fitting into the commonly accepted version. Later in the production, the video depicts birds who were born male but identified as female.
The curriculum also includes a lesson featuring a “Genderbread Person,” which is modeled after the Gingerbread Man. The teaching tool is a drawing of the cartoon explaining concepts like attraction, identity, sex, and sexual orientation. Teachers will also be encouraging students to attend “Pride” parades.
What about the Rest of the State?
A raucous debate preceded the Austin ISD vote on the new curriculum, with hundreds of people voicing their concerns over the lesson plans. Testimonies from Austinites carried on until just after midnight. Conservative advocacy group Texas Values held a press conference in which they voiced their disagreement with the new lesson plans. A group of leftist protesters tried to drown them out with megaphones, music, and kazoos. Police arrested one of the demonstrators for trespassing.
Now that the Austin ISD is implementing the new extreme curriculum, most of the city’s children will be exposed to the same type of indoctrination that is occurring at other schools. The only way to prevent this would be for parents to opt their children out of these lessons. But the opt-out rates nationwide for sex education lessons are low, likely because most parents are not aware of the content that schools are teaching the students.
The hard left managed to eke out a victory in this battle. But the war over the content that will be taught to Texan children is not over yet. Next year, the Texas State School Board will also review sex education for each of its learning institutions. This means they will likely face the same decision as Austin ISD.
Matt Pennies, one of the parents who opposed the curriculum, told the Austin American Statesman that he pulled his son out of the district. “I think people on both sides of this craziness out here are sensationalizing what this is about,” he said. “I get the sensitivities around the LGBT issues. I tried to say this, but I was drowned out by the chaos – even in a strictly heterosexual context, this content is just so aggressive. It’s just so much so soon.”
All Politics is Local
When people say that all politics is local, stories like this are what they mean. Most Americans are into federal politics to the point they are mostly unaware of what is happening in their cities and the rest of their states. It is likely that many Austinites – this writer included – had no idea what kind of machinations the far left was putting into place.
One of the most pernicious realities about America’s fixation on federal politics is that it allows operatives to push an agenda that isn’t necessarily in everyone’s best interests. The fact that local politics has more of an impact on our everyday lives than the federal government makes this even more dangerous.
The left seems to understand the importance of local politics. Conservatives who don’t wish to allow the government to indoctrinate their children into progressivism would do well to become informed on the actions of their local governments.
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