Virginia parents rally against school board for punting controversial vote on change to sex-ed classes
If the vote passes, students will face punishment for misgendering or using the wrong pronouns for those who identify as transgender or non-binary.
Outraged parents have blasted the Fairfax County school board after postponing their votes on proposed changes to school sex-ed classes until June 16th.
Fox News Digital reported that the proposed changes to the family life education (FLE) classes in the name of equity, “including largely eliminating separate gender classes.”
“The recommendation, from the school board sex-ed committee, would mix boys and girls in 4th through 8th grade for all discussions of puberty, sexually transmitted diseases, and the human reproductive system,” Fox added.
If the vote passes, students will face punishment for misgendering or using the wrong pronouns for those who identify as transgender or non-binary.
The Fairfax County school board has been mired in controversy. Earlier this March, parents accused the school board of racism over its admissions policy that they alleged discriminated against Asian students.
As detailed by National Review, a parent coalition won a lawsuit against the school board that challenged the Virginia district’s equity admissions policy.
“A federal judge ruled Friday that Fairfax County school officials violated the law by changing its admissions requirements at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology to limit the number of Asian-American students enrolled,” the publication reported.
“Represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Coalition for Thomas Jefferson — the plaintiffs in the case comprising concerned parents and students — successfully argued that the FCPS board and superintendent’s equity admissions protocol reduced the number of Asian-American acceptances. The revised policy, released in fall of 2020, had ditched some merit-based eligibility and evaluations criteria to balance the racial makeup of the school and be more politically correct.”
Parents are once again rallying to fight back against the school board over its latest proposed changes.
“It's compelling our kids to a type of behavior and speech and especially… if you're a conservative family or a Christian family, you have a right to be able to live in reality and…address someone who is obviously male as a male. I don't think that that speech should be compelled,” said parent Stacy Langton to Fox News.
“Our issue is not with the transgender community, but with these policies’ violation of students’ and families’ First Amendment rights,” said Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, an organizer of the rally. “This activist school board is overstepping its jurisdiction, far outside of standard public education curriculum. Bullying is never acceptable, but not every perceived slight needs to be codified and weaponized in Student Rights and Regulations. Like misgendering and deadnaming, calling another student ‘fat’ or ‘poor’ are also offensive and hurtful – but need not be stipulated explicitly in the regulations.”
“Board members should be focused on learning loss over the pandemic, and improving standards of education – rather than on gender politics,” she said.
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