DEMs pretend they care

But in the end they turn a blind eye to contaminated water

Then they introduce wacko Sex Education

California education officials have agreed on a sweeping new framework for sex education in the classroom, sparking intense debate about whether some of the proposal’s teacher material is too graphic and explicit.



The guidance is meant for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and though not a mandate, is intended to provide teachers with information to use in a sex education curriculum. The updated Health Education Curriculum Framework includes the suggested use of gender-neutral and LGBTQ-inclusive language, material on consent and sex-trafficking and the continued teaching of HIV prevention, which was enacted into law under the California Healthy Youth Act in 2016.



The framework also includes guidance on nutrition and physical activity, tobacco and alcohol and skin care.



“There’s a lot of social and emotional learning embedded throughout,” said Stephanie Gregson, director of the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division at the California Department of Education.



But it’s the portion on sex education that has stirred some controversy.



The guidance has prompted protest among parents, conservative groups and teachers — most notably around some of the books that were suggested as resources, including “S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties,” which includes descriptions of anal sex and bondage; and “Changing You,” which includes cartoon illustrations of female and male genitalia. Both books were recommended for removal.



“It’s important to know the board is not trying to ban books. We’re not saying that the books are bad,” State Board of Education member Feliza I. Ortiz-Licon said. “But the removal will help avoid the misunderstanding that California is mandating the use of these books.”



Though the framework differentiates lessons for transitional kindergarten through third grade, fourth through sixth grade, seventh and eighth grade, and ninth through 12th grade, concerns over children’s ability to handle some material at the youngest ages have persisted.



A Change.org petition in the Fremont School District has gained more than 8,000 signatures, with concerns over children’s ability to handle such material at younger ages.



“The content in the new sex education curriculum is NOT age appropriate,” petitioner Alice Lu wrote.



But the California State School Board of Education believes that the provision of this type of information will benefit students in the long run.



“Life has become exponentially more complex in the last few decades,” Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education and of the Learning Policy Institute, said in a statement. “The Health Curriculum Framework — developed by educators for educators — gives district administrators and educators the guidance and resources they need to develop curriculum and instruction that can help students adopt healthy behaviors that support their physical and mental well-being and navigate through the sometimes complicated situations that will come their way.”



Roughly 200 protesters showed up outside the state Capitol on Wednesday, some with their children in tow, holding signs that read “No to Explicit Sex Ed” and “Too Much Too Soon.”



“It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” Anaheim Hills resident Patricia Reyes told CBS News. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.”



What we really wanted was that families have age-appropriate, medically accurate information to make their own choices for their health. RICK OCULTO, THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AT OUR FAMILY COALITION said that when it comes to the framework’s inclusion of transgender language, several opponents have raised concerns over whether children need that information at early ages. Gregson said the framework offers tools to teachers so they know how to appropriately address every student, and ensure that each individual feels valued.



“It’s not about gender identity. It’s about acceptance of people for who they are,” she said. “Kindergarten is the foundational grade level to create understanding with all of our students and create an environment that’s bullying-free.”



Rick Oculto, the director of education at Our Family Coalition, said his organization pushed for LGBTQ inclusion to ensure that information regarding sexual health applies to all students, especially when it comes to historically marginalized youths.



“What we really wanted was that families have age-appropriate, medically accurate information to make their own choices for their health,” he said.



Every district has autonomy over its curriculum and what they use from the recommended guidance. Parents also have the right to opt out of sex education lessons for their children under the California Healthy Youth Act, though that does not include the exclusion of language teachers may adopt from the health education framework. Last year in Oceanside, school officials shelved the program for the district’s youngest students after parents complained the material was too graphic and undermined their religious values.



Since the 1970s, sex education has been widely supported in schools. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 24 states — including California — and the District of Columbia mandate sex education in classrooms. California also requires that sex and HIV education be “age appropriate.”



The California Board of Education implemented progressive sex and gender education curriculum in public schools across the state, regardless, in some cases, of parental knowledge or consent.



AB-329 allows for parents to opt their children out of sexual education. However, the bill prohibits parents from opting their children out of materials that discuss gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.



The law also prohibits abstinence-only education and prohibits any discussion of religious doctrine, according to an ACLU handout.



The handout adds that beginning in seventh grade, children must be taught “all FDA-approved methods preventing pregnancy and transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (including condoms, contraceptives, and antiretroviral treatment) and abstinence.”



Educators Must “Affirmatively Recognize Different Sexual Orientations And Be Inclusive”



The Health Education Framework notes that as AB-329 orders, teachers must “affirmatively recognize different sexual orientations and be inclusive of same-sex relationships in discussions,” and “teach about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and the harm of negative gender stereotypes.”



Board members for the Health Education Framework included school district representatives, teachers, and academics from across California as well as a school nurse. The director Community Education and Outreach at Planned Parenthood Amy Streavel was also on the board, according to the California Department of Education.



A spokeswoman for the California Department of Education referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the sections of the California Education code on a parents’ right to opt their child out of sex ed and the primary purposes of the California Healthy Youth Act when asked to comment. She did not respond when pressed for further comment.



Planned Parenthood did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.



They talk about anal and oral sex as an alternative to regular sex because you can’t get pregnant,” Andrews said in a June video posted June 26 by the conservative group Our Watch. The video generated no local or national media coverage until a tipster alerted the Daily Caller News Foundation.



Fed-up California parents participated in a “Sexxx Ed Sit Out” Tuesday morning to protest the state’s sex education curriculum, calling it “pornographic,” “age-inappropriate,” “highly biased and medically inaccurate instruction.”



In an open letter to principals, lawmakers, and state Department of Education officials, the grassroots effort organized by Informed Parents of California rebuked what’s being taught under the 2016 California Healthy Youth Act and the proposed California Health Education Framework.



“Children are taught negotiation skills for consent to sex,” the letter says, adding:



They are instructed in their rights to confidential reproductive health services and directed to local Planned Parenthood clinics for abortion, birth control and STI [sexualy transmitted infections] testing without parental notice. Some children have even been prescribed puberty blockers for gender transition, and sadly, parents have been so bullied by social workers they are afraid to speak publicly about it.



Under the California Healthy Youth Act, sex education would be expanded to include topics such as gender and sexual orientation, bullying and abuse, and birth control, including emergency contraception.



“The reason parents and teachers and school board members are protesting is the way this law is being implemented,” former California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Children are being instructed at school against the parents’ will and behind their back to do things that are medically risky and life-altering.”



Friedrichs, author of the book “Standing Up to Goliath,” has been featured by The Daily Signal in reports such as this and this for her Supreme Court battle against teachers unions.



Friedrichs said the new curriculum educates students in junior high and high school on how to use insertive condoms and dental dams for anal and oral sex. Friedrichs warns that schools may introduce the curriculum at any grade.



In coordinating the protest, Informed Parents of California instructed parents to take their kids out of school and gather in front of their local school district offices as a show of solidarity against the state-mandated curriculum. Parents were to submit a letter to the principal to explain their child’s absence.



America Figueroa, a mother of five who serves as the Hispanic spokeswoman for Informed Parents of California, said about 100 families from the three Desert Ridge Academy school districts in Indio, California, signed up to participate in the protest.



The proposed Health Education Framework, set to be adopted in May by the State Board of Education, says high school students “will explore and discover their identities, gender expression, and sexuality throughout their education and into and beyond their high school years.”



According to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, parents may opt out only from topics such as “human development, pregnancy, family planning, and sexually transmitted diseases and not topics like sexual orientation and gender identity lessons.”



The public comment period for the Health Education Framework closed in January.



Although parents have written letters to lawmakers and attended school boards meetings, “parents are feeling completely ignored,” Friedrichs said.



She said some parents “are being harassed and bullied” by sex ed proponents at school board meetings.



This article has been corrected to reflect that Freidrichs said, “Children are being instructed at school … to do things that are medically risky and life-altering.”



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