Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey’s administration wants 3rd graders to learn that they can change their gender. But teaching gender ideology to students as young as 8 years old is just one of the many concerning learning objectives included in the newly released draft of a proposed health education framework.
The updated Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework was announced by the Healey-Driscoll Administration and DESE Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley last week. The Framework is not a curriculum; it is a guideline for school districts to use when choosing a program to teach health, including sex education.
Learning goals elaborated on in the draft Framework outline sex ed lessons beginning as early as preschool and continuing through 12th grade. Shockingly, Healey lauded the proposed Framework in a press release issued by her office, stating, “As a proud daughter of a school nurse and health sex education teacher, I believe strongly that all students deserve inclusive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate health guidelines.” She continued, “All of our students benefit when they learn from up-to-date, evidence-based material grounded in science. These new guidelines will empower students with the skills they need to build healthy lives in school and beyond.”
However, many of the so-called “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” learning objectives Healey says will empower students are highly disturbing, especially those for the youngest of children. Here are some of the topics that will be covered under the guidelines:
- Students in grades preschool-2 will discuss their genitalia.
- Students in grades 3-5 will learn they can change genders.
- Students in grades 6-8 will analyze their readiness for sexual activity.
- Students in grades 9-12 will consider the “benefits” of sexual behavior.
Michael King, MFI’s Director of Community Alliances spoke briefly yesterday at a BESE meeting where the proposed Framework was being discussed. Listen to him share examples of explicit sex-ed curriculum content in alignment with the proposed learning standards:
As evidenced in the curricula examples Michael presented to the board, the sex ed learning guidelines endorse a graphic sex education model called Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). CSE does not refer to sex education programs in general, but rather to a specific form of graphic sexuality education that falsely claims to be evidence-based, age-appropriate, and medically accurate. CSE is designed to change the sexual and gender norms of society, promote high-risk sexual behaviors, and encourage even the youngest of children to experiment sexually.
The content included in the 3Rs is highly objectionable – so objectionable, in fact, that when the Worcester school committee voted to implement the 3Rs beginning in kindergarten in 2021, outraged parents, helped by MFI, launched the largest opt-out of sex ed movement in the history of the state with 1,000s of students being removed from sex ed classes by their parents. To view the kind of content included in the 3Rs click here.
Another controversial CSE curriculum in use in MA schools is Get Real: Comprehensive Sex Education That Works by Planned Parenthood (PP). The Manager of Youth and Professional Education for the Planned Parenthood League of MA was also on the Framework revision panel. The content in Get Real is equally as problematic as what is found in the 3Rs. For instance, PP’s 6th-grade curriculum (students as young as 11 years old) teaches children how to enthusiastically consent to sexual activity, promotes solo and mutual masturbation, directs teachers to lead children through inappropriate sexual role-playing scenarios, and more. Content from Get Real can be viewed here.
Sex ed lessons aligned with the updated draft framework will not empower MA students with the skills they need to build healthy lives as the Governor claims. Instead, they will groom vulnerable youth toward early sexual debut and transgender identifications that set them up for mental, emotional, and physical harm.
In fact, research and studies of CSE programs in schools show that they fail to demonstrate effectiveness at reducing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, two stated objectives of CSE programs. Some actually increase pregnancy and high-risk sexual activity.
Additionally, studies show that 100% of children who assume a transgender identification and use puberty blockers will go on to use cross-sex hormones, leaving them permanently sterile. Read Responding to the Transgender Issue, Parent Resource Guide on our website to learn more about this serious issue affecting our youth.
At the end of the Health Framework discussion at the BESE meeting yesterday, the board voted to send the draft Framework out for public comment. After the public comment period ends the board will review the feedback and vote on whether to adopt the draft as is or with revisions. Members of the public have until August 28, 2023, to submit their comments on the proposed learning standards. Comments can be submitted in one of two ways:
- sending an email here, or
- by mail sent to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Attention: Kristen McKinnon, 75 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02131.
Read MFI’s analysis of the draft Framework here, submit your public comment to DESE and ask them to reject it, and then share this e-alert with your family and friends to raise awareness about this crucial issue.
MA children are under attack. Help MFI continue our vital work to protect them from sexual grooming in school by giving a financial gift today!
Finally, register now to attend our 32nd Annual Fundraising Banquet. The timely theme of our banquet this year is The Battle for Our Children. Katy Faust, author of Them Before Us, and founder of a global children’s rights movement of the same name, will be our keynote speaker. She publishes, speaks, and testifies widely on why marriage and family are matters of justice for children and their need for protection from sexual ideology and grooming. Reserve your seat today!
