Several families have filed a federal lawsuit against numerous Obama administration officials and the Virginia (Minnesota) School District for permitting a sexually confused boy to confront half-naked girls in their locker rooms. After the girls and their parents complained, the school suggested they use a private room, but the boy follows them there repeatedly and harasses them by raising his dress and otherwise exposing himself.
"No student should be forced to use private facilities at school, like locker rooms and restrooms, with students of the opposite sex. No government agency should hold hostage important education funding to advance an unlawful agenda."
Alliance Defending Freedom [ADF] is fighting a Virginia, Minnesota school district. The conservative group filed a lawsuit on the behalf of 11 families who want to stop the allowance of the opposite sex in their children’s locker rooms, Fox News reports. The lawsuit named Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Virginia School District #706, and Secretary of Education John King Jr. as defendants.
The lawsuit filed said that a transgender student, only identified as Student X, used the female locker rooms and restrooms and participated on girl athletic teams. The ADF said that Student X violated some girls by twerking in their presence, dancing to suggestive songs, and making jokes about a girl’s bra size.
According to the lawsuit, girls who were uncomfortable with Student X were told they could use another locker room. One student, called Plaintiff A, said that she was told she could change in an empty boy’s locker room but Student X followed her in there. Plaintiff A said there was nowhere to go for privacy.
The ADF lawsuit explains that the [federal] DOE and DOJ are unlawfully redefining the terms of Title IX, something that only Congress can alter, and are illegitimately forcing their political will on all public schools across the nation. As the lawsuit points out, no federal law requires schools to allow boys into girls’ locker rooms or girls into boys’ locker rooms, and other courts have rejected the agencies’ interpretation to the contrary. The lawsuit also explains that the DOE did not comply with key provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act when it adopted its rules.
The complaint explains some of the real concerns of students and parents, such as when a biologically male student who identifies as a female—and who is allowed to enter the girls’ locker room under the district’s policy—went on to dance in the locker room “in a sexually explicit manner—‘twerking,’ ‘grinding’ and dancing like he was on a ‘stripper pole’ to songs with explicit lyrics, including ‘Milkshake’ by Kelis. On another occasion, a female student saw the male student lift his dress to reveal his underwear while ‘grinding’ to the music.”
"What these girls are asking for is something that for all of American history has been the common-sense presumption, that you have facilities for girls, facilities for boys and any student that is uncomfortable with that — including the transgender student at the heart of this case, (who) they're not uncompassionate to — they would think the best thing would be for this student to have the option to use the ... restroom of (the student's) biological sex or to make one of the single-stall restrooms available for (the student) to use," said Matt Sharp, an attorney with the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious legal advocacy nonprofit group.
The lawsuit seeks to have the district's policy and the federal guidance declared unlawful, and a permanent injunction issued against both. It also seeks "an award of nominal damages in the amount of one dollar, and compensatory damages" for each plaintiff, along with legal fees.
Virginia Superintendent Noel Schmidt declined to comment Thursday, and the school district's attorney, John Colosimo, couldn't be reached for comment.
Gay/Transgender Agenda advocates advancing the government-backed "Safe Schools" program are heralding "transgender" preschoolers who choose sexual mutilation surgery prior to kindergarten as well as their doctors who perform the procedures in Australia.
“We have a number of students who are going through gender transition in our schools, with the youngest being a four-year-old at the moment.” -- Gregory Prior, Deputy Secretary of School Operations, New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education
While the child is the youngest on Australian record to to change their gender, the New South Wales government has revealed "hundreds" of other children are being referred to the state's hospitals for gender dysphoria.
The four-year-old is reportedly being supported throughout the transition by the education department, and is part of the Safe Schools program.
According to News Corp, data from the Westmead Children Hospital stated that referrals for gender dysphoria have tripled.
The report said another major hospital in Melbourne had 250 children who were being assisted by the gender dysphoria unit. A decade ago it had just one.
[Some psychologists] maintain pre-school children are still at a very early stage of their development for such a major decision to be made. . . . The youngest child involved is just three years of age.
Transgender advocate and Australian of the Year finalist Catherine McGregor advised caution and said proper checks needed to be in place to ensure premature mistakes were not made.
“In my experience, kids with strong cross-gender identification tend to get it right.
"However, I can understand there would be caution on the part of the department and medical practitioners on making any irreversible decisions at that stage.”
Prominent transgender advocate Catherine McGregor has been sacked from a high-profile role with human rights group Kaleidoscope Australia for speaking out against the controversial Safe Schools program.
Writing for Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph in May, Ms McGregor argued the program had been compromised by radical left-wing politics and was not the most effective way of supporting transgender children. She claimed the program might lead transgender youth down a “blind alley”.
Ms McGregor, who was the world’s highest-ranking transgender military official and an Australian of the Year nominee, told The Australian she was disappointed by the reaction to her comments. It had cost her at least one speaking engagement. A Melbourne charity advised that it no longer wanted her to appear at an LGBTI event because it feared a hostile reaction.
“I’ve always been very happy to support various causes within the LGBTI community because I truly believe that, as a transgender woman who has been able to achieve a lot in my career in the military and as a writer and broadcaster, that I can contribute a lot,” Ms McGregor said.
“But it’s quite obvious that my views are more conservative than sections of the LGBTI community are happy to accept. I’ve really just had enough.”
Statistics from President Obama's Social Security Administration show that the fastest-growing trend in naming newborns is gender-neutral first names, thus eliminating the need for future name changes once the child "decides its gender identity."
"Today’s parents have moved beyond the dichotomy of boy and girl names. They want their children to grow up and be themselves, free from stereotypes. Boys can wear nail polish, girls can ride skateboards. It’s all good." -- Linda Murray, Editor in Chief, BabyCenter (which declared 2015 “the year of the gender-neutral baby”)
"Think beyond the conventional choices. Any name not traditionally used for people (names of trees places, words and those that are invented) by definition transcend gender and can work equally well for girls or boys. There’s no reason that Arrow can’t be a girl’s name and Alaska a boy’s. . . . Feminism is cool again, gay marriage is the law of the land and transgender celebrities have come into the mainstream." -- Pamela Redmond Satran, baby-name expert
. . . At a time when Banana Republic has done away with pink and blue distinctions in a children’s line, some high schools have stopped using graduation gowns with different colors for boys and girls, and unisex is de rigueur in fashion, gender-blurring baby names are on the rise among American parents.
The numbers seem to bear this out. Researchers at Nameberry analyzed the baby name registry from the Social Security Administration and found that the number of babies given unisex names like Harper, Tatum and Quinn had risen 60 percent in the last decade, to 67,831 babies in 2015.
The most popular unisex names in 2015, the researchers found, were Hayden (about 39 percent girls, 61 percent boys) Charlie (about 48 percent girls, 52 percent boys), Emerson (about 60 percent girls, 40 percent boys), Rowan (about 35 percent girls, 65 percent boys), and Finley (about 60 percent girls, 40 percent boys). Rounding out the post-gender Top 10 were River, Dakota, Skyler, Phoenix and Tatum.
. . . in an era marked by Caitlyn Jenner’s endlessly publicized transition from Bruce, as well as gender-bending shows like Amazon’s “Transparent,” the unisex baby name may also prove to be in its infancy.
Nameberry, one of the top baby name destinations on the Internet for expecting parents, recently compiled a list of their top 50 baby names for 2016. . . . one of the top Nameberry observations was the surge in gender-neutral monikers.
. . . here are some of my personal favorites from Nameberry's ranking. Good for boys, good for girls, good for choose-whatever-word-you-like-because-gender-is-a-construct: Riley, Avery, Rowan, Finley, Peyton, Jude, Sage, Augustine, Arlo, Charlie.
When it comes to naming your kid these days, there really aren't any hard and fast rules — especially in regard to gender norms. The hottest names are actually being used for girls and boys. (Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who both have popular unisex names, are obviously the coolest parents for choosing to name their baby girl James.)
To read the entire article above, and see all 25 "Super-Cool" names, CLICK HERE.
Administrators at Desert Rose Elementary School in Palmdale, California banned first-grader Caleb Zavala from sharing Bible verses (notes given to him by his mother, Christina Zavala) to classmates during lunchtime, and then the Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff was dispatched to the family home to further forbid the boy from sharing his faith with anyone, anywhere on school property because "someone might be offended."
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
When one child shared one of these notes with the first-grade teacher, telling her, "this is the most beautiful story I've ever seen," the teacher intervened. After publicly rebuking the Zavala boy, she called Mr. and Mrs. Zavala and, invoking separation of church and state, told them that their son was not allowed to share bible verses on school grounds. The teacher was unimpressed with Mrs. Zavala's correct interpretation of the Establishment Clause and stated that if they wanted to share bible, it would have to be outside the school gates.
According, Mrs. Zavala and her son proceeded to hand out bible verses and stories to her son's friends at the school gate for a brief period after school let out. According to the Zavala's many children congregated to receive the stories.
On May 9, 2016, when Mr. Jaime Zavala came to pick up his son and distribute bible verses, he was approached by School Principal Pagliagro. Pagliagro told Mr. Zavala that it was "against school policy" to hand the bible notes out at the school gate and they would have to move onto the sidewalk, which was a "public place." Jaime and his son complied and soon returned home. It was at 4:30 pm on that day that the LA Deputy Sheriff knocked on their door, telling them the school had called to report that the child and his parents had been sharing papers at school and that this was not permitted.
Mrs. Zavala made it a practice of including a Bible verse and encouraging note in her son’s lunch bag. The boy would tell his friends about the note and read them aloud at the lunch table.
It wasn’t long before children asked for copies of the notes and Mrs. Zavala obliged – including a brief note to explain the daily Bible verse.
“This is a clear, gross violation of the rights of a child,” said Horatio Mihet, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing the first-grader who attends Desert Rose Elementary School in Palmdale. They are also representing his parents, Christina and Jaime Zavala.
“It was outrageous and should shock the conscious of every freedom-loving American,” Mihet told me. “Apparently all the real criminals have been dealt with in Palmdale – and now they’re going after kids who share Bible verses during lunch time.”
The Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation organization which specializes in defending religious freedom, has since sent a letter to the Palmdale School District to inform the administration of the correct interpretation of the clause establishing separation of church and state, arguing that pupils have the right to exercise freedom of speech through printed materials.
"Therefore, it was improper to ban student religious discussion during lunchtime. The district cannot suppress and censor this discussion, or the one-page notes consisting of Bible stories and verses placed by C's mother in C's lunch for his own personal enjoyment and edification; which he voluntarily chose to share with his little friends during non-instructional time; which interested classmates were free to accept or refuse, at their own discretion," the letter stated.
"The additional copies requested by C from his mother, for his friends (who had specifically requested them from him), are likewise protected, and fall into no classification of material that might be lawfully prohibited by the school district," it added.
They say they just want to go to the bathroom and take a shower in private!
Parents and students who formed North Carolinians for Privacy have filed a lawsuit in the Raleigh, North Carolina Federal Court to stop President Obama from using billions of taxpayer dollars to hold them hostage to his Gay/Transgender Agenda that demands men be permitted to use girls' restrooms and locker rooms.
"The [U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education] must stop using falsehoods about what federal law requires to threaten student access to educational opportunities and financial assistance." -- Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
The suit accuses the U.S. Department of Justice and Education of holding federal education money hostage.
The group, North Carolinians for Privacy, argues that federal law does not forbid sex-specific restrooms and that the federal government is bullying North Carolina by threatening to cut federal funding.
The issue of whether transgender people deserve the same federal protections extended to blacks and religious minorities is already before courts in North Carolina.
The Justice Department sued the state on Monday, asking a federal district court to rule that North Carolina was violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act [Title IX] and order it to stop enforcing [the state's new HB2 that provides privacy in restrooms].
North Carolina stands to lose $4.8 billion in funds, mainly educational grants, if it does not back down, according to an analysis by lawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School.
As far as the plaintiffs [North Carolinians for Privacy] are concerned, the defendant departments [of education and justice] are making student aid and other educational funding contingent on students sharing restrooms and locker rooms with members of the opposite sex.
They claim the DOJ and education department have overstepped their authority in redefining sex and gender under Title IX, and that students' constitutional right to privacy would be violated if the state or the University of North Carolina were to bow to federal demands that transgender students be afforded full access to bathrooms that do not comport with the gender identified on their birth certificates.
The group is represented by Jeremy Tedesco, James Campbell, Kristen Waggoner, Joseph LaRue, and Jonathan Caleb Dalton of the Alliance Defending Freedom of Scottsdale, Arizona, David Cortman and J. Matthew Sharp of the Alliance's Lawrenceville, Georgia chapter, and by Deborah Dewart of the Liberty, Life and Law Foundation of Swansboro, North Carolina.
Attorneys representing 73 parents and 63 students in suburban Chicago filed a lawsuit this week against the Obama Administration and the largest high school district in Illinois for colluding to invade the privacy of students in the girls restrooms and locker rooms using new unlawful "transgender rights" edicts.
“It’s important to recognize that there’s a lagging legal framework in the face of rapidly changing social norms. Our understanding of gender identity is changing, and the law hasn’t kept up.” -- Francisco Negrón, National School Boards Association General Counsel "No school should impose a policy like this against the will of so many parents.” -- Vicki Wilson, Illinois parent and co-founder of Students and Parents for Privacy (lead plaintiff) “Allowing boys into girls’ locker rooms, a setting where girls are often partially or fully unclothed, is a blatant violation of student privacy. The school district should rescind its privacy-violating policies, and the court should order the Department of Education to stop bullying school districts with falsehoods about what federal law requires.” -- Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom “To impose such a rule on still-developing teenage girls, as they’re already struggling with puberty’s changes on their bodies and social pressures to look a certain way, undermines their dignity and tells them that their rights don’t matter. This isn’t a message our schools should be sending to our girls.” -- Jocelyn Floyd, Attorney, Thomas More Society
Lawyers for Alliance Defending Freedom and Thomas More Society, two conservative groups, filed the 77-page suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago on behalf of 51 families with links to Palatine-based Township High School District 211. It names the district and the U.S. Department of Education as defendants.
The battle for access to girls' facilities at William Fremd High School by the transgender student — who was born male but identifies as female — helped spark a national debate last year that has since spread to other districts.
The [new transgender] policy, [the lawsuit] says, causes other girls fear and embarrassment. It adds: They are "afraid they will have to see a male in a state of undress," which, for some, is a "distraction throughout the school day." One girl's anxiety led her to wear gym clothes under her street clothes so she can peel just the outer clothes off in the locker.
A group of Illinois students and parents sued the Obama administration Wednesday over its stance on transgender students’ access to school bathrooms and locker rooms, arguing that the U.S. Education Department is illegally forcing local authorities to let children use facilities that correspond to their gender identity.
The complaint alleges that the federal government has violated students’ fundamental right to privacy and parents’ constitutional right to instill moral standards and values in their children.
The lawsuit represents the first legal challenge to the Obama administration’s interpretation of Title IX, a federal anti-discrimination law, as providing transgender students with the right to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity instead of their biological sex.
Palatine officials — facing the loss of $6 million in federal funding — ultimately decided to allow a transgender student to change in the girls locker room instead of sending her down the hall to a separate facility.
Students and Parents for Privacy and three female students sued the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary of Education John King, the Department of Justice, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Cook County, Ill., and the directors of Township High School District 211 in Illinois Federal Court on Wednesday.
"This is a civil rights action to stop the Department of Education and Township High School District 211 from continuing to trample students' privacy and other constitutional and statutory rights by forcing 14- to 17-year-old girls to use locker rooms and restrooms with biological males; and to set aside DOE's ultra vires legislative rule redefining 'sex' in Title IX to include gender identity," the 83-page complaint begins.
"This creates an intimidating and hostile environment for the girl members of Students and Parents for Privacy, some of whom are as young as 14, because Student A - who is biologically a male - actively uses their private facilities at the same times as plaintiffs," the complaint states. "As a direct result of defendants' policies and actions, every day these girls go to school, they experience embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, fear, apprehension, stress, degradation, and loss of dignity because they will have to use the locker room and restroom with a biological male."
The District 211 transgender student, who has not been identified publicly, initially filed a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights alleging that the district discriminated against [Student A] when it denied [him] access to the girls locker room. The district had previously allowed the student to use the girls restroom.
In an unprecedented decision, federal education authorities found that the district had violated Title IX. The district risked losing millions of federal dollars and a possible lawsuit by the federal government if it failed to reach a resolution. In a controversial decision, the district agreed in December to allow the student locker room access and installed privacy stalls. Proponents of the settlement heralded it as a civil rights victory.
The religious liberty group Thomas More Society also is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which seeks to keep the district from enforcing the locker room agreement and restroom policy and to bar the Department of Education from taking action against the district. The plaintiffs also argue in the suit that the locker room agreement prevents students from practicing the modesty that their faith requires of them.
The lawsuit, Students and Parents for Privacy v. United States Department of Education, seeks an injunction against District 211. Headquartered in Palatine, it serves nearly 12,500 students from Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Schaumburg and parts of seven other northwest suburbs in five high schools and two alternative high schools.
It also asks the court to declare the policy and the district’s agreement with the Department of Education unconstitutional and illegal under both federal and Illinois law, and to have the court invalidate the department’s interpretation of Title IX’s sex discrimination provisions.
District 211 Supt. Dan Cates said Wednesday that the district affirms and supports the identity of all its students and will stand by the highly publicized agreement it reached last December with the department’s Office for Civil Rights. . . .
“We have implemented the agreement without any reports of incident or issue,” Cates said. “Our students have shown acceptance, support and respect of each other. Individual changing stalls in our locker rooms are readily available to every student and further accommodations that provide even greater privacy remain available upon request.”
The divisive and politically combustible issue of bathroom access for transgender individuals is about to become further inflamed, as the Obama administration is expected in coming weeks to aggressively reinforce its position that transgender student rights are fully protected under federal law, sources told POLITICO.
With the Justice Department already locking horns with North Carolina over the state’s so-called bathroom bill, the administration plans to reaffirm its view that robust protections for transgender students are within the existing scope of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. Multiple agencies are expected to be involved.
New guidance on Title IX represents a natural outgrowth of the administration’s aggressive agenda on gender equity and civil rights. In April 2014, guidance issued by the Education Department on sexual violence explicitly mentioned that transgender students are protected under Title IX. LGBT advocates saw it as an important moment for the transgender community, but have wanted the administration to go even further in clarifying the law.
This week, the Marion County Public Schools of Ocala, Florida enacted a policy in a direct challenge to President Obama's Department of Education heavy-handed edict that schools nationwide must allow men to use girl's restrooms, locker rooms, and showers.
"My concern is that some pervert looking for the opportunity to dress up as a transgender and [prey on] innocent children and because of their perverted action scars [our] children for life." -- Parent testimony to school board
"There is no legal mandate requiring the district to override the privacy rights of students and concerns of parents, by permitting gender-confused (or attention-seeking) students to inappropriately use restrooms and facilities reserved for the opposite sex. No school district has ever lost federal funding for maintaining gender-appropriate facilities, despite the claims of activists." -- Roger K. Gannam, Liberty Counsel (offered to represent school board)
A north Florida school board has approved a measure to limit restrooms to students based on their birth sex, not their gender identity.
Board member Carol Ely says transgender students shouldn't get to choose which restroom to use, adding it's "reverse discrimination."
The district started allowing transgender students to choose their restroom two months ago. But a parent claimed his son's privacy rights were being violated because he's not comfortable sharing a restroom with a student who was born female but now identifies as male.
Roger Gannam, an attorney for the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel, is representing the parent of the student who complained. He argued that there is no legal mandate requiring the district to permit transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
The new rule takes effect immediately, and the decision brought cheers from the hundreds who gathered at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
The school board resolution says transgender students are not protected by law and that students expect not to see people of the opposite sex in the bathroom.
School board vice chairwoman, Kelly King, said that the alternative [private/uni-sex] bathrooms are a safe place for transgender students. King also said she too expects lawsuits if the board approves the restriction.
"We know either way, we are probably going to have some lawsuits. You know, lawsuits regardless," King said.
In a work session last week, four of the five board members voted to restrict school bathrooms to students based on their birth sex, not based on their gender identity. School Board Chairman Bobby James was the only dissenter and said he wanted to continue to treat transgender issues on a case-by-case basis.
The letter, written by ACLU of Florida LGBT rights staff attorney Daniel Tilley, warns that the policy would not only be harmful to students but would also "violate Title IX sex discrimination requirements, violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution and jeopardize federal funding for the school district."
. . . Superintendent George Tomyn said the board should wait if they wanted this to be a rule, or policy, and that they were not following proper protocol. [Board member Nancy] Stacy said this was not a rule, but a resolution as a statement to the community. Stacy called for the vote and it passed 4-1.
The local issue began two months ago after the district started allowing transgender students to choose their bathroom, stating that the Office for Civil Rights has made it clear that transgender students have that right.
Two weeks ago, local veterinarian Hal Phillips appeared at a board work session and said his son's Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. Phillips said his son – who attends Vanguard High -- was not comfortable sharing a bathroom with a transgender student, who was born female but now identifies as being male.
The Fourth Amendment protects the privacy of all students, “including bodily privacy in the context of restrooms and locker rooms,” according to board attorney Steven Lake, who shared a PowerPoint about prior court cases at a recent work session.
[Attorney Roger] Gannam, wrote that “students with gender confusion who truly believes he or she is the opposite sex should be treated with care, compassion, and kindness, but must not be officially affirmed in his or her confusion, no matter how sincerely-held.”
Conservative legal group Liberty Counsel represented the parent, Harrell “Hal” Phillips and his son, who the organization described as “devout Christians who believe strongly in both biblical modesty and constitutional privacy.”
Phillips’s son was “extremely upset” that a transgender student was using the boys’ bathroom, the group wrote. “This was a place where he has a reasonable expectation that he will not encounter the opposite sex. This deeply violated his religious beliefs of personal modesty and his constitutional rights to privacy.”
According to the measure, single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms designated for girls are restricted to people “who are biological females.” The same goes for facilities designated for boys and people “who are biological males.”
Students who want to use alternative facilities “shall always be offered comparable facilities, as required by law,” the measure states.
The measure also states that transgender individuals are “not a protected class” under the school district’s policies.
After 46 public comments, the board passed the resolution with a 4-1 vote. About 250 people cheered, sang Christian songs and waved banners that read, “God Belongs In My City.”
“The safety issue is the biggest,” said Carol Ely, the school board member for district 2. “Although nothing has happened yet, we’re going to see some things happening.”
Transgender students, former Marion County teachers, pastors, and concerned parents filled the meeting room, office, and parking lot of the school board’s building. Some wore Equality Florida stickers while most wore red stickers reading, “We Stand With God.”
“We cannot help that the Department of Education… is now working under an illegal, unadvertised rule,” said Nancy Stacy, school board member for District 1. “The Federal Department of Education doesn’t even have a right to constitutionally exist. I believe this rule is completely illegal.”
Christian students at East Wilkes High School in Ronda, North Carolina walked out to demonstrate God's disapproval of the Gay Agenda "Day of Silence" — when public schools across America indoctrinate students with deviant sexual behavior.
“If they can press up on the young people in our schools to be quiet and be silenced for a whole day of school, surely to God, we as God’s people can lift up our voices to an almighty God.” -- Rev. Curtis Ponder, Maple Springs Baptist Church, Ronda, NC
“We’ve got slammed for hating on homosexuals and that’s not true, God loves everyone. We think homosexuality is wrong, which in our beliefs, it is. But, it’s not the people, it’s the lifestyle.” -- Ben Calloway, freshman
About 100 people joined in, on the outskirts of the East Wilkes High School campus in Ronda, including students from the school.
“A gang of youth that walked out of class, walked out of school, to show their support and to show their love of their God,” said Curtis Ponder, pastor of the Maple Springs Baptist Church in Ronda.
The discussion and prayer continued for about 15 minutes, with Ponder saying that was the amount of time allotted to the students by East Wilkes Principal Jodi Weatherman.
“My heart and my intentions of being here today is not controversial, it’s not a show of anything mean, anything lewd,” Ponder said.
Parents at Windmere Ranch Middle School in San Ramon, California [a suburb of San Francisco], have launched an online petition against the school's LGBT acceptance week, which is scheduled to begin Monday, April 11.
The petition adds that the parents "are not against the LGBTQ" but there are a number of concerns with the acceptance week that have not been addressed.
The petition further explains that the parents want to be assured that the lessons being taught during LGBT acceptance week will not include "condemnation for differing religious values or practices."
The parents fear that the school will use LGBT acceptance week as an outlet to indoctrinate their children.
Educators at Hudson Park Elementary School believed "It's Perfectly Normal" to teach fourth graders how to masturbate with picture books of naked kids and adults having sex, but after parents brought the "education" books (given to their children) to the school board, Rainier School District administrators decided to withdraw the books.
“She told the students that they had to check them out and take them, so those books went home, and some other parents that we know got involved because the books came home with their children.” -- Darren Vaughn, parent
The book in question, titled “It’s Perfectly Normal,” touts itself as a children’s book for ages 10 and up, that talks all about changing bodies, sex and sexual health.
Inside of the book are illustrations about all of those things, including pages of naked teens and adults, some depicting sex acts and even masturbation.
Officials with the Rainier School District noted the title is on the state approved list of books allowed at the school, but in a letter sent home to parents Thursday, the school’s principal admits they were inappropriately passed out to 4th graders in the library recently.
Darren Vaughn, who has a fifth-grade son at the school, said he learned from his neighbors that librarian Alison Dale-Moore had told several kids to look at the books. Vaughn, 43, of Rainier said his son later told him that the librarian had told several of his friends to take the books.
Vaughn said the books — including “It’s Perfectly Normal” and “It’s Not a Stork” — are “very graphic and explicit” for 10-year-olds. He said the books contain images of masturbation, condom usage, sexual intercourse and self examination.
“For example, “It’s Perfectly Normal” has a young female person bending over with a full view of her backside examining herself with a mirror,” he said. “There’s a young boy on a bed who is masturbating. It gets worse from there.”
[Vaughn] said several board members were in the dark about the books, despite the complaints being reported to Superintendent Michael Carter at the end of March.
Despite state-wide and national pressure by threatening homosexualists, the Franklin County (Tennessee) School Board stood firm this week and voted just shy of unanimity to require parental approval of any student admittance to extracurricular clubs, which is likely to terminate the newly-created Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club.
"For my children, myself and what I truly believe is the majority of residents in Franklin County, I will not be browbeaten, threatened or bullied into compromising my values or belief system." -- Chris Guess, school board member
Critics have called for clubs with religious or sexual intents to not be allowed at public schools, while supporters have said the club provides a safe place for people to be themselves that can only be provided in an extracurricular setting.
The new opt-in policy would likely require major efforts and paperwork to enforce the policy in the county, said Chris Sanders, the executive director of Tennessee Equality Project, which has been following the debate.
State law allows parents to opt their children out of extracurricular activities. The Franklin County rules would require a signed and dated form from a parent or guardian before the student could become a member of the club or organization.
The school board also approved a policy that would allow a school principal to revoke a club's status if the organization failed to "comply with board policy and administrative standards."
The controversy over the club has filled the past several School Board meetings.
[Board Member Chris] Guess said Monday the circumstances had become personally threatening toward him through emails he has received about the issue. He said his job status and livelihood were brought into question over his stance about requiring parents to opt their children into extracurricular clubs.
He said the Gay-Straight Alliance Club was founded over a concern about bullying, yet the tactics being used by supporters against those in opposition were, in essence, bullying.
Dr. Amie Lonas, the school system’s director, said working out the details to implement the change could take several months, but the new policy should be fully in place by July 1 when the school system’s new fiscal year begins.
At a school board meeting [in February], resident Robert Widelick took to the microphone and said he doubted the [GSA] agenda that he claims they're trying to impose on people who attend their meetings.
"There's really no place for discussion of sexual orientation in a public high school," Widelick said.
Dozens of supporters stood up, cheered and waved towels and signs after Widelick shared his opinion at the meeting.
Franklin County Schools Director Amie Lonas said the [GSA] organization, which was created to promote tolerance and acceptance, followed the proper procedure to establish the club. Students say it was really largely done in response to bullying. The group was granted approval to form by school officials in December.
. . . On social media, a page was created in mid-January to call for members of the Franklin County School Board to move the club off campus because of its controversial nature.
“Schools are for learning the basics we need to get a job after high school or get a secondary education,” said Chris Ball, a parent with children in Franklin County Schools. “We’re here to teach subjects, not to promote certain ways of life.”
Students had been trying to form a [LGBT advocacy] group for weeks, though it wasn’t until [faculty adviser Jennie] Turrell signed onto the group as a sponsor that the organizations finally gained momentum . . . Turrell said she’s received stacks of letters from supporters from states across the country that she’s been able to show students.
The Middle Tennessee chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network [GLSEN] also plans to have 20 people carpool to Winchester to attend the rally and meeting to support students in the club, said Justin Sweatman-Weaver, the Middle Tennessee chapter’s co-chair.
Yoselis Ramos, a now-suspended, first-year Spanish teacher at Monroe Middle School in Tampa, Florida (Hillsborough County Public Schools) gave a quiz to pre-teens intended to "teach diversity" by forcing students to categorize themselves by "status of privilege." The quiz equated being born male or female, or a particular skin color, with "being" homosexual or transgender — implying that sexually immoral behavior is genetic (whichscientifically is NOT factual).
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
The three sex-related columns [on the categorization form] — “Sex,” Gender” and “Sexual Orientation” — offer an array of choices for the seventh-grade and eighth-grade students including “Intersex,” “Cisgendered,” “Transgendered,” Genderqueer” and “Pansexual.”
People are “cisgender” if their stated gender matches their physical sex. The word means normal. “Intersex” is the very rare condition of having genitals that aren’t wholly male or female. “Pansexual” means feeling sexual attraction toward all genders and gender identities. (It’s way broader, apparently, than merely bisexual.) “Genderqueer” means subjectively feeling that traditional boy/girl norms don’t apply to you because you are a special snowflake.
School district spokeswoman Tanya Arja assured WTSP [TV-10] that the survey is not part of the official Hillsborough County Public Schools curriculum.
Representatives of the citizens of Virginia overwhelmingly passed legislation to require schools to inform parents of sexually explicit book assignments in order to allow parents to "opt out" their children, but the governor vetoed the bill this week saying that the state Board of Education, which is eternally controlled by liberals, might someday enact something similar on its own initiative.
[Besides,] "this legislation lacks flexibility and would require the label of 'sexually explicit' to apply to an artistic work based on a single scene, without further context." -- Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), Virginia
The measure, which is backed by GOP House Speaker William Howell, was brought to the General Assembly by a Fairfax County mother [Laura Murphy] who protested the use of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' in her son's high school senior class. The 1987 novel set in the post-Civil War era includes scenes depicting sex, rape and bestiality.
The bill initially flew through the GOP-controlled House with unanimous support [including from all of the Democrats]. But outcry from Democrats and free-speech groups grew as the bill received more attention. The 22-17 vote in the Senate means there's likely not enough support to override the governor's veto in that chamber.
The bill would direct the state Board of Education to create a policy on sexually explicit books for elementary and secondary schools. Under the policy, schools would be required to provide an alternative to the sexually explicit book if a parent objects.
“School boards are best positioned to ensure that our students are exposed to those appropriate literary and artistic works that will expand students’ horizons and enrich their learning experiences,” [Gov. McAuliffe] said in the veto message.
Del. R. Steven Landes (R- Augusta), chairman of the House Education Committee, sponsored the bill at the request of House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), making it a top priority for the overwhelmingly Republican House.
Landes called the veto “disappointing” and said he would introduce the legislation again next year if the state doesn’t change the regulations.
The National Council of Teachers of English and the National Coalition Against Censorship opposed the bill; the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia favored it.
“Parents make decisions every day about what video games kids play, what movies they watch and what material they consume online,” [Del.] Landes said in a statement. “They should have the same opportunity within the classroom.”
Landes said Virginia already has similar policies for sexual education and science curriculum. He said he brought the legislation because the Board of Education has “put this issue off for several years” and said he would reintroduce the bill again next year if regulatory changes are not implemented.
“It is remarkable that the governor has so little respect for parents who simply want to know and be free to make decisions about what their kids are being taught,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia.
“Parents are not the enemy of education, they are the driving force behind their children learning and succeeding,” she added. “If schools and teachers have nothing to hide, there should have been no opposition to this common sense transparency measure.”
Unlike the parents in several New Jersey school districts which recently enacted the Gay/Transgender Agenda open-bathroom policies, parents of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District are not standing still for a policy that allows students to hide an alternative "gender identity" from their own parents, and also requires the school to accept every child's sexual whim.
The Board of Education believes the responsibility for determining a student's gender identity rests with the student . . . Therefore, the Board will accept a student's assertion of his or her gender identity when there is consistent and uniform assertion of the gender identity, or any other evidence that the gender identity is sincerely held as a part of the student’s core identity. The Board of Education will not question or disregard the assertion of a student’s gender identity. The Board also recognized a transgender student’s right to privacy, and therefore, if a student represents that his/her parent(s)/guardian(s) is unaware of the student’s gender identity, the school and district staff must obtain consent from the student prior to communicating with his/her parent(s)/guardian(s) regarding the student’s transgender status. -- Board of Education, Pascack Valley Regional High School District
A crowd of more than 100 people debated the issue Tuesday night at Pascack Hills High School [in Montvale, NJ].
The policy would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, allow transgender students to participate in physical education classes and sports, as well as provide access to restrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.
Pascack Valley school officials plan to introduce the policy next week and vote on it the following week.
A new proposal by the Pascack Valley Board of Education would permit district students to use locker rooms and restrooms based on their gender identity and require staff to address students by the name and gender pronoun a student identifies with.
A student would be permitted to take physical education classes "consistent with their gender identity."
A student's records, including grade books and their permanent record, would be required to reflect the gender as well. Official student records would be changed if a parent documents a legal change of a student's name or gender.
Theresa Jordan, a Hillsdale resident and mother of a Pascack Valley High School student, said her objections over the issue of restroom use were centered on her religious beliefs, adding that she was “looking out for the rights of my daughter not to be exposed to something I don't want her to be exposed to.”
Pascack Valley temporarily tabled the proposal last month after parents at a Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting opposed it, with one woman questioning whether it opened the door to “sexual immorality.” . . .
The Pascack Valley proposal is similar to model school policies that have been circulating around the state. In North Jersey, North Arlington, Carlstadt, East Rutherford and Mahwah have adopted such policies. The North Arlington policy, approved earlier this year, uses the same language as the one in Pascack Valley. Last month, Toms River school officials put a similar proposal on hold after it met with opposition from parents and local religious leaders.
At the meeting, held at Pascack Valley High School, Hillsdale resident Bernadette Orso, a mother of a teenage son, called that part of the policy an "invasion of privacy" and not "proper or respectful."
Sherry Silk, a Montvale resident, agreed. In the instance of an anatomical boy identifying as a girl, she said it may "open a door" for "sexual immorality."
Carolee Adams, another Montvale resident, concurred, telling the board to postpone the vote and that the policy needs "further investigation and time."
While the board moved to table the policy after much public outcry, Board President Jeffrey Steinfeld told parents that the district's two principals, as well as the board attorney, told the board that they should have the policy in place, for one to avoid litigation. Board Member Arnold Scher was opposed to tabling the policy.
[Steinfeld] added that the policy committee reviewed the policy and a "tremendous amount of thought" went into it. Superintendent Erik Gundersen explained that the needs and rights of transgender students is a "significant factor for the policy."
"We have a strong policy in place," said Gundersen. "You have to allow [transgender students] the right to have access to a locker room. They have the legal right to have access. We don't have the legal right to say no."
