As a current public school teacher and former School Board Member in Orange County, I believe parents should know the radically revised definition of Gender Identity being promoted to their children.
The definition changed in California in 2017. The new definition is: Gender identity means each person’s internal understanding of their gender, or the perception of a person’s gender identity, which may include male, female, a combination of male and female, neither male nor female, a gender different from the person’s sex assigned at birth, or transgender.
It came from our state’s Fair Housing Fair Employment Department. This new concept of gender is in our elementary curriculum recommended by the Calif Department of Education in the form of cartoons, coloring pages and picture books.
In 2017, law SB 179 passed stating California would have an Official 3rd Gender called (Non-Binary) which would go into effect Jan 2019 (Atkins, San Diego). Non-binary, however, is not ONE gender, it is a myriad of gender identities.
The California Teachers Association (CTA) endorsed SB 179, and explained non-binary in their March 2017 California Educator magazine. CTA’s article: Embracing the Gender Spectrum explained that our binary system of two genders (male and female) has expanded to a range of identities.
Transgender is just one option on the spectrum. Samples of identities with pronouns to match were provided such as: “Ambigender” – being both genders using pronouns they, them, theirs, “Agender” – being neither gender with pronouns ze, hir, hirs, hirself, “Gender Fluid” – not having a fixed gender, but rather fluctuating genders and pronouns, “Questioning” – being in process of exploring one’s gender identity, “Gender Non-Conforming” – when gender expression falls outside of what is considered typical for one’s assigned sex at birth.
As a special education teacher, I recently noticed, the student gender category drop down changed in the Special Education Information System. There is now a third category: non-binary. Because I understand the definition of non-binary, I asked my district to please inform parents of this new definition of gender, but so far, that has not happened.
When I was a board member (2016-2020), I asked the California School Board Association to inform trustees statewide of this new definition of gender. However, they never did. Although parents and board members were never notified of this change, our young children are being taught this new definition.
In a library data base many districts use, teachingbooks.net, it contains the book: WHO ARE YOU?, with lesson plans for English and History. This same primary elementary book is in the National Black Lives Matter Curriculum teaching diversity and inclusion.
The book reads: “When babies are born, people ask, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Babies can’t talk, so grown-ups make a guess by looking at their bodies. Some people say there are only two genders. But there are really many genders. (Picture on the white board says: I am girl, boy, both, neither, just me!) And for some people, there are more than just two choices. These are just a few words people use: trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gender fluid, bigender, third gender, two-spirit.. and there are even more words people are using to describe their experience. This is called the gender spectrum.“
This cartoon should be watched by all parents so they can understand what is recommended for children by the Calif Department of Education and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Go to Amaze.org, click “gender identity” and watch, “Gender Exists on a Spectrum”.
Why was a foundational social construct overhauled in our state, and not a word said? The only press release was from former State Superintendent Torlakson. He stated, “The assumption underlying California policy is gender is a spectrum. State legislation allows all students to self-certify to their chosen gender category of male, female or nonbinary starting January 1, 2019.“
A smorgasbord of gender choices based on a child’s feelings is what our teacher unions call “Science”. It’s why I left the union. This is not Science, it’s Science Fiction. What the teachers’ union calls “inclusion” is confusion and delusion.
The only way to stop this is to NOT vote for candidates endorsed by Teacher Union.
How do we find out who is endorsed by the Teachers Union???
Thank you for publishing this disturbing abuse toward our children. The power given to our State School Administrators and the Teachers Union in California is a disgrace. They are using millions of our tax dollars to endocrine the future generations with the gender ideology and sexuality.
The school system is completely ignoring parental and children’s rights.