Homosexual Curriculum

What do I do when homosexual curriculum is promoted in my child's school?

Do you know what you'd do if you learned your child's school was planning to use books and videos that introduce young children to the topics of homosexuality and same-sex marriage? Challenging situations like this are cropping up all across the country, so it's important to know what to do if this happens at your child's school.

What You Can Do

As parents and taxpayers, you have the right—and responsibility—to know what your child is being taught in public school classrooms.

Be aware. As parents and taxpayers, you have the right — and responsibility— to know what your child is being taught in public school classrooms.

• You can ask to see the curriculum being used to teach your child about such topics as "family diversity," bullying prevention, "tolerance," "social justice," and other topics that are often used in schools to introduce homosexuality.
• Check out what's in the school library. For examples of what you might find, see this list of "recommended" resources. Most schools now have an online library catalogue that makes it easy to search for certain topics. The content of your child's school library often provides a good indicator of what you may also find in classrooms and curriculum.
• You can also ask to preview any videos being used to address family issues or sexual topics in the school classrooms or during general assemblies.

Be proactive. Don't wait until inappropriate material gets into classrooms, or your child's hands, to do something about it. Once bad policies and curricula get in, it's hard to get them out.

• Educate school personnel and elected officials. Focus on the Family has created the website TrueTolerance.org to help you provide the best information and data available on this issue to your school officials. In fact, you can email information to them from the website's "Take Action" page.

Promote the right solution. Recognize that bullying and peer abuse is wrong and should be stopped. But this can and should be done without politicizing classrooms and introducing controversial, sexual topics to children against their parents' wishes.

• Use Statistics to Make Your Case: Statistics clearly show that bullying is widespread among children for a myriad of reasons. That's why children are best served by a policy that gives equal protection to everyone and puts the emphasis on where it belongs — on prohibiting the wrong actions of the bullies. See "Fast Facts on Bullying."  
• Counteract bad policies by offering an effective and legally sound alternative like the model anti-bullying policy developed by the Alliance Defense Fund. Download it from TrueTolerance.org.  See "Latest Issues" and "Take Action."

Counteract deception with facts. Use facts to expose deceptive teaching that may be inappropriate for children or violate parental rights and religious freedoms.

• The "Educate Yourself" section of TrueTolerance.org provides concrete examples of "tolerance" and other lessons that homosexual-advocacy groups use to teach young children about things like gay marriage. Use this information to provide documentation to your school officials and concerned citizens.

How to respond to the school

• If you are concerned about what your child is being taught on any subject, express those concerns starting first with the classroom teacher or appropriate educator in charge of the program of concern. Then, if necessary, request a meeting with the principal.  Be sure to keep your tone respectful and civil, even if you are understandably upset.
• If you are unable to receive a satisfactory answer from the teachers or the school principal, raise the issue with the school board.  Organize other concerned parents to go to the school board meeting with you.  Present your concerns in a clear and concise manner, emphasizing that attempts to work with school administrators have failed.  
• If the school board does not adequately respond to your concerns, make calls to the local news media about your concerns.  Submit letters to the editor to your local newspapers. Get the issue out in front of the public – make others aware of what your school is doing (or not doing). 
• If all else fails, consider removing your children from the school and either home-school or enroll the student in a school that will respect parental authority in issues of sexuality.
• Consider serving on school committees that review textbooks and other classroom material.  

For more tips on approaching school officials with your concerns, see "Do's and Don'ts for Approaching School Officials."  

One Illinois Mom's Story

It all started when Tammy Schulz received an invitation to a “Welcoming Schools” presentation at her local elementary school. Billed as a way to address bullying, the program was introduced by the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, which has strong ties to GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) — a national homosexual-activist group dedicated to promoting homosexuality to public school students.

What Happened in Illinois Won't Stay in Illinois

It all started when Tammy Schulz received an invitation to a "Welcoming Schools" presentation at her local elementary school. Billed as a way to address bullying, the program was introduced by the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, which has strong ties to GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) — a national homosexual-activist group dedicated to promoting homosexuality to public school students as young as kindergarten.

At a neighborhood Bible study, she discovered that two other moms shared her concerns. To their dismay, they found that a teacher training conducted by the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance had already taken place at their elementary school and had centered entirely on homosexuality.  One of the documents they discovered that disturbed them most was a list of "perceived obstacles" to the program, including "family values" and "faith systems."

"It's a political agenda being shoved into my school," Schulz said, "to normalize homosexuality. …I have the right to pass on my faith and my values to my children. …It's as if the school is trying to 'correct' a value that our family holds. What business is it of theirs to try and change my family values?"

The concerned parents took their case to the school board. The bias Schulz and other parents encountered is increasingly common as homosexual-themed "safe schools" initiatives are introduced in public schools across the country.  Ultimately, school officials implemented parental notification and "opt-out" policies for classroom or library content dealing with these controversial themes.

Additional Resources

More information on how you can get involved.

See TrueTolerance.org for sections "Express Your Viewpoint" and "Educate Yourself" for general information on how you can make a difference.

For more information on what you can do, read "Parents Beware" about actions other parents have taken in their community. If your child's school is sponsoring a homosexual-themed event, such as Day of Silence, see "Help for Parents Who Feel Powerless." Also, see TrueTolerance.org, click on "Latest Issues."

TrueTolerance.org is an online tool that helps parents respond in a winsome, factual way when issues like homosexuality and same-sex marriage are addressed in a one-sided manner in public schools. Filled with information from legal experts, examples of lesson plans that cross the line and fact-based counterpoints to the one-sided messages homosexual-advocacy groups frequently promote, TrueTolerance.org makes it easier for parents to make their voices heard and respond with truth to the biased information school officials are often receiving on these topics.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a legal organization concerned with preserving parental rights.