The new curriculum has multiple units on LGBTQ+ issues.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Evanston/Skokie School District in Illinois announced that they would be teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to children as young as preschool, according to Fox News.
- The school district made an announcement saying that they had special units featuring issues like Latinx Heritage Month, Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ+ Equality Month as part of School Week of Action.
- The school proclaimed their new initiative on their website, featuring details about preschoolers learning about the gay pride flag and kindergarteners receiving vocabulary words such as gay, lesbian, non-binary, and queer.
- Second-grade students will have discussions about sex being “assigned at birth” being “different from gender identity,” and eighth-grade students will be taught about “recent bills that aim to limit transgender athletes from participating in school sports” as well as “actions they can take about these bills.”
STATEMENTS FROM OFFICIALS ABOUT THE NEW CURRICULUM:
- “Throughout the month, educators and preK-8th grade students will broaden their understanding of the identity of self and others, allyship, family structures, vocabulary, gender expression, stereotypes, colors on the intersectional pride flag, and the historical contributions of LGBTQ+ people. Each grade level engages in a selection of these topics,” the district said in an announcement addressed to families.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his administration have taken a particular exception to the curriculum, considering it is just the kind of materials recently banned from Florida schools and released a statement following the announcement of the changes.
- “This is appalling, but it’s not surprising. Countless activists, politicians, and media outlets have been gaslighting parents by claiming that “there is no sex ed in K-3” or “kindergarteners aren’t learning about transgenderism.” Unfortunately, this isn’t true, and that’s why Governor DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law – to protect kids in Florida from inappropriate content in the classroom, and to defend parents’ rights to impart their values to their own children,” DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw said the Evanston/Skokie School District’s lessons
- “Thanks to our governor and the legislature, Florida kids will not be subjected to ideological indoctrination about sex and gender theory that is unfortunately injected into curriculum in Illinois and other states,” she continued, adding that examples such as Evanston/Skokie “demonstrate why Florida’s laws are necessary.”
BACKGROUND:
- Evanston approved a plan to allow reparations for black residents as compensation for slavery and discrimination against their community in 2021.
- The reparations are to be paid in the form of $25,000 awards for down payments on property or home repairs.
