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(LifeSiteNews) — I am very encouraged by the parental rights movement that has sprung up over the last couple of years in response to a flood of investigative reporting by activists and journalists, revealing the extent to which radical sex education and gender ideology have become fundamental parts of public school curriculums. The battle for the school boards is an essential one, and this work must continue. But it is also important to remain clear-minded about what is going on inside these schools as the fight unfolds at public meetings and in political races.  

The reality is that the teachers committed to indoctrination—evangelists for the LGBT movement—will find ways to bring their beliefs to their students regardless of who sits on the school board. Removing pornographic books and sex manuals from the curriculum is a very good thing—but it won’t stop activist educators from preaching their gospel. Your child spends tens of hours a week with his or her teachers. You should know what that teacher believes, and what he or she is saying. 

It is also notable that the parental rights movement is being combatted in certain states by those determined to ensure that gender ideology and the LGBT movement’s beliefs become actual state dogma. An example of this would be a “teaching guide for elementary grades” recently handed out by the San Francisco Unified School District, detailing for teachers how they can begin “integrating LGBTQ themes and weaving information about LGBTQ family and gender diversity into your teaching through the school year.” 

The guide, titled “LGBTQ Family + Gender Diversity: Teaching Guide for Elementary Grades,” is 18 pages long and is very, very thorough. The introduction highlights how LGBTQ themes can be made central to every subject, with the goal of normalizing and celebrating different family structures. Recommended resources include video series’ on “Queer Kids,” an opera about statutory rapist Harvey Milk, a rap about accepting transgenderism, and others. Recommended articles include titles such as “How do I prevent gender bias in young children?”; “The singular they”; “Using a trans person’s name can decrease their risk of depression & suicide”’; and “Teaching about gender.” 

As radical as that might sound—most of that content would be unthinkable circa 2010—most of it is simply par for the course in public schools today. But particularly worrisome for parents should be the documents’ careful delineation of the responsibilities of teachers versus parents. While the document affirms that parents should be notified when discussions of “puberty, sexual health, and STI/HIV prevention” are had, it also notes that parental permission is unnecessary and that teachers have a right to convey this information to students. In fact, in the section titled “LGBTQ Student Rights,” the guide lists what teachers must convey to children under California law: 

Refer students by the gender pronoun and name that fits their gender identity, Implement and provide access to gender neutral restrooms, dress code policies, and classroom practices, and Recognize student’s consent to sensitive LGBTQ or sexual health-related services without seeking permission from caregiver/parent, if they are age 12 or older.

The guide also explicitly states that the involvement of parents is not required when: “providing definitions to students, teaching about LGBTQ family and gender diversity, celebrating Pride Month, and reading books with LGBTQ characters/plots/subplots or speaking about LGBTQ persons outside the context of health education.” In other words, children will be taught the LGBT worldview as fact and presented alternative sexual lifestyles as objectively positive, with no recourse for parents who may hold different worldviews. It is a state school; your children will learn the state’s religion.  

The state’s religion, like any religion, is all-encompassing. Thus, children will learn in kindergarten that “it is normal to explore gender and be curious about gender,” and children in grade three will learn about the “Gender Snowperson,” with history lessons including how “gender [was] controlled in the formation of the Unites States” and how “you identify and choose your family.” The LGBT worldview has been included in every subject and in every aspect of the curriculum. To combat this would be to scrap everything and start over. 

The unavoidable conclusion here is simple: despite the encouraging stories coming from the front lines of the parental right movement, most—if not all—of the public education system has been irretrievably colonized by the LGBT movement. If you don’t want your children inculcated in the religion of the state, don’t send them to a state school. Find another option, even if you have to sacrifice to do it. 

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.

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