[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
The Seattle Public Schools which are already facing a lawsuit from the parents of a Jewish teen who suffered months of antisemitic abuse while under their charge are now refusing to align their policies with a recent Supreme Court decision which gives parents the right to “opt out” their children from lessons that promote an LGBTQ+ agenda.
The Seattle policy explicitly violates the Court’s 6-3 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor which was handed down in June. That decision held that parents of children in public schools have the right to opt their children out of lessons or assignments that highlight LGBTQ+ protagonists and themes if those lessons will contradict their families’ religious beliefs.
“The Board’s introduction of the ‘LGBTQ+-inclusive’ storybooks, combined with its decision to withhold notice to parents and to forbid opt outs, substantially interferes with the religious development of petitioners’ children and imposes the kind of burden on religious exercise that Yoder [an earlier Supreme Court ruling] found unacceptable,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito on behalf of the majority. “The books are unmistakably normative. They are designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.”
“Many Americans, like the parents in this case, believe that biological sex reflects divine creation, that sex and gender are inseparable, and that children should be encouraged to accept their sex and to live accordingly,” Alito added. “The storybooks, however, suggest that it is hurtful, and perhaps even hateful, to hold the view that gender is inextricably bound with biological sex.”
The Court’s ruling in this case is clear: parents have the right to opt their children out of lessons which promote the LGBTQ+ cause and gender ideology, which runs not only counter to religious teachings but also to observable reality. But the Seattle Public Schools appear to have missed the message.
In a section of their official website aimed at parents who seek “Opt Out Requests for LGBTQ-Inclusive Instruction,” Seattle Public Schools gives a definitive answer: “NO”
Seattle Public Schools works to provide a wide range of educational opportunities that reflect who students are, help them build empathy for others, and prepare them to be compassionate citizens of a diverse and changing world.
There is no option to “opt students out” of learning about particular identities or groups of people. This guidance is reinforced by OSPI (state superintendent’s office), the policies of other major urban districts (including the states of California and New York), and the outcomes of federal cases around the country. We celebrate all students in SPS.
Learning about identities or groups of people is different from sexual health education. Families do have the right to opt out of Comprehensive Sexual Health Education (CSHE) under state law. Instruction about LGBTQ identities provided for purposes such as bullying prevention, or safe and welcoming environments, is not part of CSHE and thus not subject to an opt-out provision.
(emphasis in original)
The Seattle Schools’ message to parents is clear: you have no rights here. If you want your children to get a free public education, gender ideology will be shoved down their throats. Supreme Court precedent be damned!
And they plan to start young.
The Seattle Schools’ website helpfully provides a list of “K-5 Gender Book Kit Lessons” which are “a series of videos for Seattle Public Schools students in kindergarten through fifth grade.”
“These age-appropriate lessons align with the Washington State Health Education standards related to self-identity,” claims the website.
The kindergarten lesson focuses on a picture book titled “Introducing Teddy” authored by Jessica Walton and illustrated by Dougal MacPherson. The titular Teddy is pictured twice on the cover, first wearing a black bow tie on his chest and a sad expression, and then in a mirrored reflection wearing the bow in his hair and a huge smile on his face. The book is read—and commented upon—by a young man in a white sweatshirt with rainbow doodles all over it who speaks with a noticeably lilting voice.
In case you can’t guess where this story is going, the book follows Teddy, who is named Thomas, and his friend Errol, as they go to the playground to try to cheer Teddy up. Teddy has something he wants to tell Errol but he’s afraid that Errol will no longer want to be his friend. After some reassurance from Errol, Teddy comes out with it: “Thomas the Teddy took a deep breath. ‘I need to be myself Errol. In my heart I’ve always known that I’m a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. I wish my name was Tilly, not Thomas.’”
“Wow, what courage,” intones the rainbow-clad narrator reading the story aloud.
Naturally Errol responds with total enthusiasm: “I don’t care if you’re a girl teddy or a boy teddy. What matters to me is that you are my friend.”
The narrator reading the book intones: “So here we see acceptance, accepting someone for their differences, we see compassion, being a good friend. We also see somebody demonstrating their gender, right, so how they identify themselves, how they know in their heart and their mind to be a boy, a girl, neither, both, or something else altogether.”
This reality-denying quasi-religious profoundly self-destructive gender hogwash is what Seattle Public Schools is teaching to five-year-olds. And refusing—in violation of the Supreme Court ruling—to allow parents to opt their kids out of.
And it only gets worse from there.
Fifth graders get treated to a reading of the book “Red: A Crayon’s Story” by Michael Hall. The self-identified “health education specialist” reading the book on this video for children is clad in a black t-shirt stating “Phenomenally Latinx” and states for the class that “I prefer my name to pronouns, but anything said with respect is great, so they, she, and he all work for me.”
The book features a crayon that is labeled Red, but which is actually made of blue wax, so that when it tries to color a red strawberry, the berries come out blue. No matter how much he tries to color things in his proper color of red, the crayon’s drawings always come out blue. “He just couldn’t get the hang of it,” states the book.
But then when Red tries to color things that are Blue, he has instant success. “I’m Blue!” he realizes.
In case the children have missed the point, the narrator then is sure to relate the lesson back to gender identity. “How might this story apply to gender?” he asks. “Take a moment and think. Some examples might include somebody whose label says boy, but their inside color says girl. They know themselves to be a girl.”
Seattle Public Schools are brainwashing their students in deeply harmful and profoundly unscientific transgender ideology. The same ideology that has led thousands of minors in America to seek chemical and surgical castrations to force their bodies to better conform to their so-called “gender identity.” And if their parents want to shield them from this depraved conditioning, well clearly, they are just bigots, and have to be forced to get with the program.
What is so notable about Seattle Public Schools’ gender indoctrination regime is that they aren’t even trying to hide it. The absurd video lessons taught by a fleet of queer jesters and intended to teach children ages 5-12 that biological sex is often an illusion are all publicly available on their website. As is the statement telling parents that they have no power to pull their kids from these woke sermons.
The lawbreaking gender madness must end here. If Seattle Public Schools won’t uphold the law, concerned parents should sue to ensure that the school district is forced to comply with it. And the Trump administration should immediately withhold federal dollars until that compliance has been assured. Our children’s health and lives depend on it.