Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen countless examples of schools and teachers attempting to indoctrinate students into critical race theory (CRT) and teach new gender ideology.
According to CRT, racism is currently embedded in the political, legal, corporate and education systems in the United States. And proponents of critical gender ideology affirm that boys can literally become girls (and vice versa), and there is no inherent biological distinction between men and women.
These two systems of thought are being transmitted into the minds of young Americans through the school system.
In Chicago, their public school district has completely eliminated sex-specific restrooms, replacing the boys and girls restrooms with “All Gender Restrooms,” “Boys+” restrooms which have stalls and urinals and “Women’s+” restrooms which have only stalls.
The state of Illinois last year passed a bill stipulating that students in kindergartners through second grade must be able to “Define gender, gender identity, and gender-role stereotypes.”
And recently, school officials in Florida worked behind the backs of parents to help a teenage female student “socially transition” into a boy.
“January Littlejohn … said that her daughter had a discussion with school administrators about her restroom preference, but the school wouldn’t share any information about that discussion without the daughter’s permission.
“After many weeks of going back and forth with the district, we learned the middle school had created a transgender, gender nonconforming support plan with our 13-year-old daughter without our knowledge or consent,” Littlejohn said.
Thankfully, Florida’s state legislators have just recently taken a courageous stand and passed a “Parental Rights in Education” bill.
Among other items, the bill “restricts discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity to only those that are age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate for students while prohibiting a school district from encouraging discussions of these topics with children in kindergarten through 3rd grade.”
Additionally, teachers are rising up and saying: Enough is enough.
The Daily Citizen has written extensively on the case of Tanner Cross, a public elementary school teacher in Loudon County, Virginia.
Cross was fired after attending the district’s public school board meeting to express his opposition to a proposed policy that would “require all district staff to use a student’s chosen name and preferred gender pronoun regardless of the name or gender recorded on the student’s permanent educational record.”
But, with the help of lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Cross’ First Amendment right to the freedom of speech was vindicated by the Virginia Supreme Court.
That court’s opinion ruling in favor of Cross said, “Although the Board may have considered Cross’ speech to be ‘a trifling and annoying instance of individual distasteful abuse of a privilege,’ we believe Cross has a strong claim to the view that his public dissent implicates ‘fundamental societal values’ deeply embedded in our Constitutional Republic.”
But despite Cross’ legal victory, other teachers’ right to free speech are also being threatened.
Loudon County Public Schools (LCPS) approved Policy 8040, which Cross spoke against, which forces LCPS staff to use student’s preferred names and pronouns.
“School staff shall, at the request of a student or parent/legal guardian, when using a name or pronoun to address the student, use the name and pronoun that correspond to their gender identity,” the policy states.
Following the passage of Policy 8040, ADF amended its lawsuit with Tanner Cross to challenge the policy itself.
Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill has also been added to the lawsuit against LCPS’ policy.
Gill has been a public-school teacher for 27 years and spoke to the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) 2022 Convention on March 9 regarding her decision to join the lawsuit.
“It impacted me personally when they passed the gender policy which essentially mandates that as a teacher I must affirm [any student] in whatever gender they choose and use whatever preferred pronouns they request,” Gill said.
“This goes against my religious conscience. It goes against truth. It goes against biology. It goes against reality … LCPS is micromanaging our speech right down to the pronouns that we use.”
The case (Cross v. Loudoun County School Board) is ongoing.
It’s tragic that teachers currently must fight for their jobs and sue their employers to affirm their right to speak freely and to protect their religious consciences.
But thankfully, there are courageous teachers like Tanner Cross and Monica Gill standing up for their constitutionally protected rights.
If you’re worried about what your child may be learning in school, check out Focus on the Family’s free resource Back to School for Parents: A busy parent’s guide to what’s happening in your children’s classrooms and practical steps you can take to protect them.
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