LA school district encourages teachers to reject gender 'binary,' embrace LGBT ideology
One of the largest school districts in the United States has urged teachers to embrace LGBT ideology denouncing the gender "binary," according to a new report.
Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute, shared documents he obtained from the Los Angeles Unified School District's Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity Department on Twitter Wednesday.
LAUSD is the largest school district in California, serving more than 500,000 students.
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"Los Angeles Unified School District encourages kindergartners to experiment with non-binary pronouns, trains teachers to subvert 'mainstream white cis-heteropatriarchy society,' and promotes sexual identities such as 'trans,' 'pansexual,' 'two-spirit,' and 'genderqueer,'" Rufo tweeted.
The outspoken critic of critical race theory and LGBT ideology being incorporated into public schools provided screenshots of a "treasure trove of documents from the district's Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity department, which has created an entire infrastructure to translate the basic tenets of academic Queer Theory into K-12 pedagogy."
"The programming includes a wide range of conferences, presentations, curricula, teacher-training programs, adult-driven 'gender and sexuality' clubs, and school-sponsored protests," Rufo wrote in an article for City Journal.
The Christian Post reached out to LAUSD for comment. A response is pending.
I have obtained a trove of documents from the district’s Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity department, which has created an entire infrastructure to translate the basic tenets of academic Queer Theory into K-12 pedagogy. pic.twitter.com/9vYlOoEXWh
— Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) July 20, 2022
Among the documents Rufo shared online are LAUSD's "Queer and Trans-Affirming School Calendar" titled "Queer All School Year."
One PowerPoint presentation focused on "Queering Culture & Race." The PowerPoint has been removed from the LAUSD's Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity Department's website.
A slide from an October 2021 professional development workshop discussing "breaking the binary in education" asserted that "our language is binary due to the society around us." The stated purpose of the workshop was to provide a "start for educators to look at how they can shift their thinking, language, and approach to LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom." The workshop was presented by a fifth grade magnet school teacher whose pronouns are "they/them."
Other workshops at the same conference featured a panel discussion with queer seventh-grade students to "produce counter narratives against the master narrative of mainstream white cis-heteropatriarchy society that seeks to erase and oppress our lived experiences." They included a list of resources for trans-identified students, including "trans-affirming clothing."
Another workshop advised teachers to use "non-gendered expressions" and abandon the use of the phrases "boys and girls," "ladies and gentlemen" and "guys."
In a conference last fall, the district hosted presentations on “breaking the [gender] binary,” understanding “what your queer middle schooler wants you to know,” and producing “counter narratives against the master narrative of mainstream white cis-heteropatriarchy society.” pic.twitter.com/eFsVIhpy3Q
— Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) July 20, 2022
A school district policy issued in 2019 proclaimed, "Students shall be addressed by the name and pronoun that corresponds to their gender identity asserted at school without obtaining a court order, changing their pupil records or obtaining parent/legal guardian permission."
The document clarified that "if school personnel are unsure how a student wants to be addressed in communications to home or in conferences with parents/legal guardians/educational rights holders, they may privately ask the student how they want to be referred to when communicating with parents/legal guardians."
A chart obtained by Rufo listed the "privileged social groups" within individual "social identity categories," along with the "border social groups" and the "disadvantaged social groups."
The chart identified "white people," Anglo-Saxons, citizens, males, gender-conforming men and women, heterosexuals, rich people, the able-bodied and mainstream Christians as privileged social groups. The document classified "People of Color," females, trans-identified people, LGBT individuals and non-Christians as "disadvantaged social groups."
Rufo cited the chart as an example of the narrative that "white, cisgender, heterosexual men have built a repressive social structure, divided the world into the false binary of man and woman, and used this myth to oppress racial and sexual minorities."
As of Sunday, all but one of the links on the Office of Human Relations, Diversity & Equity's "Advisory Lessons" webpage redirect to a page informing visitors that "this page has moved." The only document remaining is a PowerPoint presentation outlining "10 Ways to Talk About Sensitive Issues in the News." Two of the PowerPoint documents removed from the website include "Critical Race Theory, Racism and K-12 Education" and "Say Gay: Protect LGBTQ+ Futures."
The department has a separate webpage devoted to lessons on "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression."
While most of the documents have been removed, a presentation on the meaning of the term "2 Spirit" remains. A lengthy glossary of LGBT terminology defined the phrase as an "umbrella term traditionally within Native American communities to recognize individuals who possess qualities or fulfill roles of both feminine and masculine genders."
The PowerPoint contended that "European colonizers" imposed a "binary, European understanding of gender" on Western civilization. Additionally, it stated that "colonizers imposed homophobia, gender binaries and misogyny among other abuses towards the Indigenous nations" when they first arrived in what is now the U.S.
Another presentation available on the website discussed "names and pronouns" and included advisories to "ask [people] for their pronouns when meeting someone new, correct people when they use the wrong pronouns, use the name and pronouns they ask you to use and apologize and correct yourself if you get it wrong."
An LAUSD spokesperson told The Washington Examiner that the district "supports and respects the diversity of our students and families, which includes providing safe and affirming learning environments."
Rufo's reporting comes three years after 43.9% of students in the district met or exceeded standards in the 2019 Smarter Balanced assessments' state English testing, which constitutes part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
That same year, 33.47% of students in the district met or exceeded the standards in the state math testing.
When compared to all the school districts in the state, LAUSD scored in the bottom 50% in both categories. SchoolDigger ranked the district 1,029th out of 1,496 school districts in California.
LAUSD is not the only major U.S. school district to embrace LGBT ideology amid mediocre student performance on state assessments.
Rufo previously shared footage of professional development training teachers in the School District of Philadelphia were encouraged to attend. The training consisted of sexually explicit workshops, including one where the speaker informed attendees that "I have tried and touched many d---s" and showcased prosthetic penises.
The most recent data from the school district reveals that 22% of Philadelphia public school students received a proficient or advanced score on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment math test. Additionally, 33% of third-graders scored proficient or advanced on the PSSA ELA test, and 36% of students in grades four through eight received scores of proficient or higher on the same test.
SchoolDigger ranked the School District of Philadelphia 473rd out of 579 school districts in Pennsylvania.
A poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers showed most Americans are "dissatisfied" with how schools teach students about issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity and race.
The survey indicated that 58% of respondents living in battleground states were "dissatisfied" with "the way students are taught about issues related to sexual preference and gender identity," while just 23% were "satisfied."
At the same time, 60% of those surveyed described themselves as "dissatisfied" with "the way students are taught about racial issues and the role of race in America," while 27% were "satisfied."
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
