California Parents Protest LGBTQ-inclusive Education for Their Kids

In a protest that is sentthe worst possible message to their children, parents in California pulled a total of 650 students from school for a one-day protest. Their cause? They don’t want LGBTQ-inclusive lessons taught to their kids. This protest spanned an entire school district.

In the week prior to the protest, the Rocklin Unified School District adopted LGBTQ-inclusive history and social science curriculums for all grade school kids.   Rachel Crutchfield  is a spokesperson for the Informed Parents of Rocklin, a group which vehemently opposes these inclusive lessons.

“We believe that anyone who has made a significant contribution to society should, of course, be included in our history textbooks,” Crutchfield said. “However, the concept of sexual orientation is far too complex of a topic for elementary-aged children to be introduced to at school. Children in second grade simply do not have the tools to comprehend sexuality, nor do we want them to. Let’s let kids be kids.”

The reality is that kids are exposed to heterosexuality as a default every single day, via social norms, the media, and yes, in school, to the extent that they understand it. This assumption of heterosexuality sends a message that it’s the “right” or “normal” orientation and that deviations of it are, by subsequent logic, abnormal.

Arguing that kids can’t “comprehend” sexual orientations, or that it detracts from their childhood innocence, also suggests that something about LGBTQ identities is perverse or overtly sexual. LGBTQ people being predators, and especially suggesting that they’re unsafe around kids, is an outdated and inaccurate stereotype that apparently still lingers in people’s minds. The idea that a person assumed to be straight makes them “safer” or easier for a kid to understand is rooted in ignorance and fear.

According to reports, an example lesson that some parents objects to is from a second-grade lesson about Sally Ride. The lesson describes her as a “good example for all females” who “joined NASA and became the first female and first lesbian American astronaut.”

Rachel Henry, of the Sacramento LGBT Community Center, says that it is important that schools acknowledge LGBTQ identities in a positive way.  “We know that teaching children tolerance, love, and kindness isn’t enough — we have to actively teach about diversity within our community,” she stated. “Because if we’re not naming those identities, we’re ignoring and silencing them.”

LGBTQ youth face higher rates of bullying and assault than their heterosexual peers. They’re also more likely to drop out of school, get lower grades, and be absent. Most seriously, they’re also more likely to self-harm and attempt suicide.  “We’re just fighting against the idea that straight is “normal”,’ Henry added.  “Aside from gay marriage — which is only one aspect of equality — gay people still aren’t a federally-protected class.”

The very least we can do to help protect and nurture all kids is to teach them acceptance. And for LGBTQ or questioning youth, this can—literally—save their lives.