Maryland’s Department of Education adopted a new health education framework in 2021, which includes teaching school children about “gender identity,” “sexual orientation” and “intersectionality.”
But many parents balked at this content, opposing it at school board meetings in conservative counties. Carroll County Public School District even created alternative health content that “struck the ‘gender identity and expression topic’ from all grade levels,” The Washington Post reported.
Now, a state senator has introduced legislation, SB 199, that would force school districts to abide by the state standards. Parents can still opt their children out, but the rest of the students – from prekindergarten through 12th grade – will be taught gender ideology.
If SB 199 passes, Maryland will join seven states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and Oregon – that have legislatures which mandate teaching gender ideology in all grades.
The Department of Education had adopted the health guidelines, “Maryland Comprehensive Health Education Framework: Pre-Kindergarten Through High School.” Schools were expected to follow the guidance by 2025.
The framework has instruction on “Family Life and Human Sexuality” beginning in prekindergarten. Under the topic “gender identity and expression,” these young children will be taught to “recognize and respect that people express themselves in many different ways.”
Pre-K students are also taught to “recognize that there are different types of families (e.g., single- parent, same-gender, intergenerational, blended, interracial, adoptive, foster, etc.).”
Kindergartners will go a step further, being taught to “recognize a range of ways people identify and express their gender” and to “recognize it is important to treat people of all gender identities and expressions with dignity and respect.”
The standards require first graders to “identify a range of ways people identify and express gender,” while second and third graders will learn to “demonstrate ways to treat people of all gender identities and expressions with dignity and respect.”
Of course we should teach children to treat all people with dignity and respect. But do they need to learn about “gender identity and expression” in kindergarten to learn this basic principle?
Let’s be clear: Children in Maryland will be taught a political and sexual ideology that has no basis in reality or science. Among other things, gender ideology teaches that a person can change from one sex to the other, there are a multitude of “genders,” and a person’s beliefs or desires about themselves trump physical reality. Gender activists and their allies sexualize and confuse children by inculcating them into this irrational belief system.
The requirements continue as students move from grade to grade. Fourth graders will be taught how to “identify sexual orientation as a person’s physical and/or romantic attraction to an individual of the same and/or different gender.”
Each grade level indoctrinates children further into this radical dogma. Sixth graders are taught to define these terms: “sex assigned at birth,” “gender identity” and “gender expression.”
Seventh graders are taught to “identify solo, vaginal, anal, and oral sex along with possible outcomes of each” and to “recognize racism and intersectionality and describe their impacts on sexual health.”
Maryland schools will not only teach gender ideology as part of “Family Life and Human Sexuality,” but terms borrowed from critical race theory are added to the content for higher grades.
High schoolers must be able to “differentiate between sexual orientation, sexual behavior, and sexual identity” and “examine the impact of gender expression and gender identity on members of marginalized communities and analyze the intersectionality of race, culture, and gender for members of those communities.”
“Intersectionality” sees people not as individuals, but as oppressor or victim, based on their various identities and allegiances.
Ironically, the legislation was introduced around the same time the press was condemning the city of Baltimore for its failing schools. A local Fox News outlet’s “Project Baltimore” analyzed test results for the city and found:
The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Baltimore City’s math scores were the lowest in the state. Just 7 percent of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math, which means 93 percent could not do math at grade level.
Project Baltimore uncovered another shocking fact:
Project Baltimore found, in 23 Baltimore City schools, there were zero students who tested proficient in math. Not a single student. …
Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools.
Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.
But the state’s Department of Education, and now its legislature, think it’s important for children to be indoctrinated into our modern cult of sexual and gender ideology.
Now, more than ever, parents and concerned citizens must pay attention to public schools. Parents are ultimately responsible for their children’s education – not the state, but we all must oppose this inappropriate sexualization and confusion of children.
And we can all support and advocate for educational freedom, where students are funded – not failing institutions, giving parents more independence to choose what’s best for their children.
Related articles and resources:
Educators, Parents and Students Rally to Support National School Choice Week
Iowa Gives Parents Educational Freedom
Iowa, Utah, Oklahoma and Florida Move to Expand Educational Freedom
Utah Passes School Choice Bill – More States Move Toward Educational Freedom
What’s Happening in Schools? Why We Need Educational Freedom
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