California Sex Education Exposed: Part 1
February 11, 2019
This is the first email in a three-part series titled California Sex Education Exposed. In this series, you’ll learn what’s being taught to our children in California public schools: kindergarten – 12th grade, what one pastor is doing to fight this, and how you and your congregation can respond.
This email (Part 1) will discuss the sex-ed curriculum that is being taught to our children in public schools — as young as kindergarten. Some of the topics include gender identity, the use of contraception and the abortion pill, age inappropriate sex “study guides,” sex toy resources, and more. Read to the end to see what you can do as pastors, parents and concerned citizens, and what steps to take next.
California students remain in the bottom tier of academic excellence, ranking 44 out of 50 in the latest Best States survey by U.S. News and World Report. While they may not be faring so well with the basics, children as young as kindergarten are becoming experts in sexual relations, sexual orientation and gender.All of this is a result of a concerted effort that has been underway for years (yet formalized with the 2011 passage of SB 48, the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education) Act. The law mandates that students as young as kindergarten be taught about LGBT issues.
Additionally, the 2015 passage of AB 329, the California Healthy Youth Act, also expanded sex-ed topics to include instruction on gender identity and gender expression, while also promoting the use of contraception, emergency contraception such as “Plan B,” and abortion. It also mandates that all students in grades 7–12 receive HIV prevention education. The culmination of SB 48 and AB 329 comes this year with final updates to the state’s curriculum frameworks for Health Education.
The new framework, the lynchpin for California’s progressive curriculum, accelerates LGBT indoctrination at all grade levels. For instance, the introduction to the proposed Health Education Framework clearly outlines the agenda of indoctrination:
“[High School] Students will explore and discover their identities, gender expression, and sexuality throughout their education and into and beyond their high school years.” (pp. 27–28)
The public commentary period ended in January and final approval is expected this May. Parents have been challenging the framework and sexually explicit textbooks all across the state, citing the inappropriateness of the materials. It is especially egregious since state opt-out laws only apply to comprehensive sexual health education topics such as human development, pregnancy, family planning and sexually transmitted diseases.
At a forum hosted last year by the Orange County Board of Education, parents decried curriculum associated with AB 329, saying in addition to not being age-appropriate, the curriculum promoted risky and unhealthy behaviors for children. Also in Orange County, parents were upset to learn administrators were using a graphic study guide to accompany the transgender children’s book, “I Am Jazz” (recommended for children in kindergarten to fifth grade). In addition to defining various sex terms, the age-inappropriate study guide asks students, “What if you don’t have time or money to buy sex toys?” It goes on to offer solutions that include the use of various fruit. The district was also offering a “sexual health toolkit” as a classroom resource.
Last year, parents in the Elk Grove Unified School District petitioned the district to drop a new textbook that highlighted the late Jose Julio Sarria, a homosexual and infamous San Francisco “Drag Queen.” Thehistory-social science book titled “My World” praises Sarria for his “honesty” in being the first “openly gay” person to run for public office, unsuccessfully taking a seat on the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors. Glaringly absent from the textbook was any mention of Sarria’s arrest for solicitation during a police sting at a prominent hotel. The omission is no surprise since the FAIR Act also bans any subject matter that reflects negatively about the homosexual and transgender communities.
In addition to the formal classroom curriculum, the state’s education website contains a smorgasbord of sexually-explicit resources for students, including where to find and how to use condoms (with maps and games!), acquiring emergency contraception (the abortion pill), information about STDs, and definitions for the various expressions of bisexuality and transgenderism. Source providers include Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Equality California, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and GLSEN.
Voice of Truth
Beyond the ramifications of stifled speech, California’s schoolchildren are getting anything but a fair education when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity issues. That makes it especially vital for Christians to understand what the Word says about homosexuality so we are a kind voice of truth to counter the informational blackout at the hands of educators. Scripture calls us to be light in the darkness (1 John 1:5-9), and this is not a command we should take lightly. The stakes are too high. Today’s high-schoolers will be policymakers in a short while, and what they are taught in public school will shape those views — not only in government and the marketplace — but also in relationships.
It also matters beyond the boundaries of the Golden State because, as we’ve seen for decades, what happens in California rarely stays there. It happened with same-sex marriage. It happened with all-gender bathrooms. And it’s happening now as lawmakers work to rewrite language in an effort to erase the biological sexes in favor of a fluid perspective on gender. With every one of these “advances,” religious liberty declines.
What Next?
With the public commentary period for the California framework officially closed, what can parents and concerned citizens do? Although the situation appears dire, our schools are still redeemable and there are viable options:
- Send a note to the committee.The state’s Instructional Quality Commission will meet March 22–23 to consider feedback from the most recent public comment period. Although the official deadline has passed, it’s still possible to send them a thoughtful note. Make it brief, but kind. Click here to view the list of members and contact information.
- View the materials.Even with state-mandated instruction on homosexuality and transgenderism now law, California’s local school districts still have tremendous say in what these issues are, as well as how they’re taught. Ask to review your district’s textbooks and other instructional materials. Don’t limit curriculum reviews to health topics. As educators have become more emboldened, the discussion on LGBT issues is no longer confined to sex-ed. Many districts are extolling the contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals across all subject areas including history, social studies, and even music.
- Know and exercise your rights.In California, parents have been stripped of many rights, even by the hands of the courts. Such was the case in 2005, when a federal appeals court in California ruled in Fields v. Palmdale School District that parents’ rights do not “extend beyond the threshold of the school door.” To help parents navigate through the confusing maze of state opt-out laws, the California Safe Schools Coalition has developed a four-page Q&A guide. Click here if you’d like to review.
- Attend school board meetings.Because these decisions are made at the local level, it’s important to stay involved with local school boards. Governing boards are required to give the public an opportunity to speak. If enough people speak out on a topic, boards are often much more receptive to make changes.
- Run for the school board.If your board is not receptive, consider running for the school board or recruiting others with a biblical worldview. Public schools are in desperate need of parents and community leaders with Judeo-Christian values and a sound respect for parental rights. For many politicians, the local school board has been a stepping stone for higher office.
Take action to undue the activist tide that aims to indoctrinate young hearts and minds — for generations to come.