Gender ideology has been a pervasive problem in the school system for years. Now Congress is acting to stop it.
Gender ideology is a broad term that covers a variety of age-inappropriate and radical topics. Last year, the Heritage Foundation conducted a comprehensive review of materials within public schools that promote this ideology. The review found that kindergarten curriculum often includes teaching the difference between “gender identity” and “sex assigned at birth.” Many high schools have lessons on “reproductive justice,” the concept that one’s body and one’s desire to have or not have children (thus justifying abortion) is entirely up to the individual. Literature that normalizes certain “family structures” and relationships appears throughout K-12 curriculum. The various pronoun policies, school-sponsored pride month events, and handbooks that cater to this radical agenda are pervasive across the country.
At least 16 states have laws compelling teachers to include these materials in their lessons. Several of these, including Nevada, mandate that LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum begin as early as kindergarten. Because some of the states with these laws on the books are the most populous in the country, such as California and New York, nearly 37% of American schoolchildren are subjected to gender propaganda in the classroom, paid for by taxpayers.
Traditionally, parents have been able to opt their children out of classes when sex education material, that they would rather talk to their kids about at home, is presented. But when this ideological indoctrination is in every subject and affects various levels of school policy, that makes it impossible to avoid short of pulling a child out of the public school system entirely.
One of President Trump’s first executive orders was to declare that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that no other ideology would be tolerated across the executive branch or any entities funded by the federal government which includes public K-12 schools. While Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) applauded that executive order, the reality is that executive orders can be easily overturned by a future president who has a different (and erroneous) view of human nature. The only way to ensure that this directive remains the law of the land is for Congress to codify it.
That is why Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Rep. Owen Burgess (R-Utah 4th) are introducing the Say No to Indoctrination Act. The bill focuses on the portion of the executive order that prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from funding radical gender ideology in public schools. While it will not prohibit states from requiring that schools push this ideology anyway, losing funding will be a powerful motivator for public schools to reform.
CWALAC applauds the effort to end woke education practices. Rather than teaching young, impressionable minds immoral and egregious political propaganda, schools should focus on teaching the fundamentals of academics. That is what is best both for the future success of these kids and the future of the nation.
