Wisconsin Elementary School Cancels Reading of Transgender Book
. . . after the Liberty Counsel threatened a lawsuit
For many years, progressives and assorted leftists have been threatening (and pursuing) law suits against schools, cities and towns, and cemeteries and memorials in an attempt to remove all evidence of religious faith from the public sphere.
The result has been a series of knee-jerk reactions by scared administrators who’ve preemptively banned prayer at senior centers or who’ve barricaded a mall Santa in a “glacier display.” The list is long (and silly, note the ban on the colors red and green).
The right has been slow to respond, but there are groups who are fighting fire with fire. According to the Cap Times, a local publication in Madison, Wisconsin, a school has canceled the reading of a transgender book to elementary school students. This decision was taken after the Liberty Counsel weighed in and threatened to take action.
The Cap Times reports:
On Monday, students at Mount Horeb Primary Center were scheduled to read and discuss “I Am Jazz,” a children’s book about a transgender girl. A letter was sent out to parents notifying them of the scheduled reading on Nov. 19th. The note, signed by the principal, school psychologist and a counselor, said that the school was working with a student that identifies as a girl but has male anatomy.
“We believe all students deserve respect and support regardless of their gender identity and expression, and the best way to foster that respect and support is through educating students about the issue of being transgender,” the note reads.
“It is our primary responsibility to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all of our students,” the note says. “Please let us know if you have concerns about your child participating in this discussion; we respect the beliefs and convictions of all families.”
But the reading was cancelled [sic] after “concerned parents” contacted the Liberty Counsel, which threatened a lawsuit if the book was read to students, claiming it would be “a violation of parental rights.”
The Florida-based group describes itself as a “non-profit litigation, education and policy organization with an emphasis on religious liberty issues.” The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Liberty Counsel as a hate group that advocates for “anti-LGBT discrimination, under the guise of religious liberty.”
In a letter to the school district, the Liberty Counsel points out parents only had one business day’s notice of the reading, which “appears designed to catch parents off-guard.”
Also worth noting is the mention that the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Liberty Counsel as a “hate group.” Considering SPLC’s shaky record on identifying hate groups and individuals, this designation is suspect.
Indeed, the Liberty Counsel is, as of this writing, the featured “hate group” on SPLC’s website.
Here is part of Liberty Counsel’s statement about this win:
On Friday a parent called Liberty Counsel after she received notice that the school planned to read I am Jazz by LGBT activist Jessica Herthel.
“Jazz” Jennings (seen in this video discussing the book) is a gender-confused male, who has been permitted to undergo harmful gender reassignment drug therapy and hormone blockers, resulting in permanent physical changes to his body.
I am Jazz is not only misleading, it is wholly inappropriate and disturbing. Transgender education substitutes the beliefs of the principal and school psychologist for those of parents. Bringing transgender activism into schools undermines the privacy rights of students, the free speech rights of teachers who cannot in good conscience address a child by the opposite sex pronoun, and the religious rights of families.
Watch the Liberty Counsel discuss a separate case in which a class assignment forced students to cross-dress and keep a diary of their feelings about it:
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Comments
I am a Conservative Christian father of a gay teen son. He struggled with his sexual orientation while in elementary school. I love and accept my son. In fact, I want him to have the same privileges as my straight children. However, pushing transgender issues (mainly by liberals) is unnecessary, unacceptable, and un called for. The average age someone “comes out” as transgender is 17 years old. Also, most recent studies by pro gay researches shows that the hormones you are born with match your gender. http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/07/22/study-transgender-youth-do-not-have-hormonal-imbalance. This is not really about guiding our children as much as it is force feeding the rest of socirty to accept this as OK even when pro gay physiologists, researchers and doctors are not even in agreement.
Unless transgender orientations, including homosexual and crossover, are a progressive condition or pose a threat to individuals, then it seems reasonable to promote tolerance, but not normalization unless we are prepared to reject the pro-choice (i.e. selective) doctrine and become uniformly inclusive and dysfunctional. The construction of congruences or equivalences in order to accommodate women’s rites, homosexual behaviors, scientific prophecies, class diversity schemes (e.g. racism, sexism), etc. has sponsored corruption in our society and justified violation of human and civil rights.
What exactly is “transgender orientation”? Who makes this determination? A judge? A legislature? An organization? A Mental Health Expert?, etc. In fact, even according to pro gay publications (paid for by our tax dollars) according to the pro gay lobby this is not about orientation. We now are faced with individuals who say they “feel” like one gender one day and then another gender a different day. Now, we have to accept a that and believe that some say they do not believe in any gender. If people who have Phd’s can’t agree on this why are elementary kids being forced to accept this? This is beyond the issue of “tolerance”. Such a misused word. It is about high minded liberals who think they know it all and want to force feed their agenda on the rest of society.
Trans- is a prefix that means “across, beyond, through, on the other side of, to go beyond.”
Gender is either dependent on biological sex, which is immutable in human beings, or correlated with social roles.
Orientation is a bias that creates a predisposition.
As for tolerance, it is a classification of behavior that does not require rejection nor merit normalization or promotion.
elementary kids being forced to accept this
This is an example of normalization or promotion. Also referred to as indoctrination.
While I acknowledge the challenges that a homosexual orientation or bias poses for your son, neither homosexual nor crossover nor any other transgender orientation merits normalization. However, there is also insufficient cause for rejection. So, we are left with tolerance, and defining reasonable boundaries that can enable reconciliation of all relevant principles, imperatives, and interests involved.
I don’t disagree on your comment about “normalization”. Same with the gender and orientation comments. Tolerance is being pushed as “normal” and thus promoted. This is where I would take issue because in reality we have a society that wants to change the norms to beliefs and views that are not foundational. I am against indoctrination of our children and we parents have the right and obligation to speak up. The problem is that too many parents won’t say anything. What is even concerning to me is that everyday somewhere in America our kids are being taught things that we as parents would object or question.
As for the “insufficient cause for rejection” contention just read some of the posts here and I just roll my eyes. There is still much rejection and ignorant statements. (Please, child abuse to child molestation?)
Finally, the “defining reasonable boundaries” contention cannot be agreed upon simply because there is no middle ground nor “reconciliation” will be achieved simply because most within the LGBTQ Communtiy are intent on not only getting their “right” but to punish anyone in thier path!
You should have actually educated him then.
How the fuck does an elementary school kid even know he’s gay. They haven’t gone through puberty and shouldn’t even understand normal sexual relationships yet, much less know they are gay.
Anybody that counsels somebody on their gender identity or sexual preference before they’ve even gone through puberty should be jailed for child abuse.
Verified by the leftist teacher who molested him.
Your son struggled with his sexuality whilst in elementary school? Check for the pedophile either in the family, the neighborhood, or school. That is not something children think about unless it’s brought front and center in their minds.
Juba Doobai! is entirely correct. I have numerous acquaintances that were sexually abused as children, some as young as 4 or 5 years old.
When someone says gays are “born that way,” the truth is, the basis of it is so traumatic, and they feel so shameful (very sad because if anyone is innocent, they are), they don’t want to discuss or reveal what happened.
I cannot count the number of people I know who were sexually abused at 4, 5, 6, 7 years of age – and up – and their parents didn’t suspect it, or if they noticed something was wrong, did absolutely NOTHING to investigate or solve it.
I also know men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are still a mess after childhood sexual abuse.
As far as changing their moods girl to boy, boy to girl, each day, someone that suffered very young and very severely, probably have what the pros call “dissociative identity disorder,” but what I call by the old term “multiple personalities.” MP is much more descriptive. I know a few of them and they can switch very easily. They might switch a few times a day – or not for a couple or three weeks. Really depends on the person and the situation.
This is why I am APPALLED at the very thought of putting them in the military. Did they not see what crap Bradley Manning caused?
Children have infatuations before puberty. I remember, and the focus was always a boy. That doesn’t mean I was thinking about sex strictly speaking. If I had felt infatuations for other girls, but knew that girls generally had romantic thoughts about boys, I might have felt confused.
It seems quite possible that a boy in elementary school might similarly feel confused and worried by his infatuations with other boys — without having been subject to any pedophile imprinting. But I couldn’t rule out the latter, either.
I wonder why you felt it important to inform us about being a christian and a conservative. Seems to be beside the point, which is school district officials being drunk with power using transgender as the theme du jour. I also wonder what difference it makes what the state of consensus is about the “science” of this obvious mental defect.
I certainly understand that a parent loves his kid no matter what. But he will never get over his fascination with “gender changing” as long as you accept him as is. Why would he? In essence, you are telling him that your love does not extend to wanting the best for him and do not doubt for a minute that he is getting exactly that message.
“Transgenders” must be “victims” in order to justify their rejection of the traditions. This is why they commit suicide at one of the highest rates on the planet – people give them what they say they want and it does nothing for them personally. At that point everything feels hopeless to them and a lot of them choose to end it.
Try to remember that love means wanting the best for someone, not accepting him/her for what he/she is at that moment.
“I wonder why you felt it important to inform us about being a christian and a conservative. Seems to be beside the point,”
It isn’t beside the point at all, when leftists insist that conservative Christians are generally bigoted and hateful toward gay people, and that only a narrow-minded, bigoted, rigid, outdated (etc.) religious orthodoxy could explain any reservations about or resistance to any part of the left-wing agenda regarding homosexuality or transgenderism.
There are non-religious arguments against that agenda, or parts of it; and there are views informed by Christianity or conservatism that are much more nuanced than the leftist caricatures.
While not disagreeing with your assessment, I strongly believe that the majority of crap we have to deal with is because we accept or expect certain things without any evidence. Nobody challenged him (he was the first caller).
This means that he comes to the fight/debate with a defensive attitude, which means he will always lose. He was pre-emptively defending which makes it much easier for the enemy to control the flow. I maintain that it had nothing to do with his kid’s situation nor did it have anything to do with the subject matter of the thread.
I submit that he must change his attitude towards the situation before he ends up with a tragedy for the reasons I already stated in the earlier post. I have known too many people who hung out at tombstones apologizing to people who aren’t here any longer. That is no way to live, or to die.
I thought I would respond to you because of your insights. (I will post here once and my intention is not to justify nor defend myself.)
1. The aspect of my Christianity was not used as “defensive ” measure but more of an explanation to this subject since Christians are blamed by the left when something is questioned. I used this with a different angle that some identify with while others do not. Saying that, I certainly can understand your insight about me coming in form a defensive posture and because I am first.
2. I probably should have rephrased my words carefully and that it was not my son who “struggled” but my wife and I.
3. Noticing certain things my son did and said at a young age was a cause of concern. He went with me to an Ex-Gay ministry and to counseling. Followed James Dobsen advice, Southern Baptist authors and ministers (though I am not Southern Baptist), Pentecostal churches, even actually sat down with Christians who have same sex attraction, spoke with and emailed moms and dads who did and who did not accept their children. Some of their children committed suicide and others did not. You mention the “grave”. Yes, we will all die. But insinuating that my son will be in the “grave” because of a tragedy is a curious statement in that you foresee the future? Wow! This is because of you “hanging out” with too many people who grieve at a “tombstone”? If this is no way to live or die, well, let me know how to live so then I can die correctly. Or even my son for that matter. Some will applaud me and others will criticize me as a father. I am not looking for approval nor condemnation. I was making a point initially about the Wisconsin school and added more than I should because the focus is on me. Amazing! I hit a nerve with some.
4. Everyone has an opinion on this issue. I had an old military chaplain who liked to say from the pulpit that they “opinions” stink. There are statements by people that are blanket in general, outlandish, anecdotal, ignorant and accusatory.
5. Let me take my “Christian” hat off. (If you are offended that I am a Christian, so be it.)
I do not believe that same sex marriage is normal despite what Justice Kennedy wrote. Why? Biology. My other son who is 12 knows this. I am not sure how the so called “brilliant” justices who attended Ivy League schools do not know this.
6. I am all ears with people who have logical, coherent and reasoned views. Even with people who may not be walking in my shoes. I don’t know you because anyone can sit behind a keyboard and type in “words of wisdom” in the comfort of their home. I read your posts and they made me think.
7. Finally, I am going to use my “Trump” card here. (Not as in Donald Trump). I am a father who has a son who is attracted to the same sex. I have been told to kick my son out, or fully accept him, or take him to conversion therapy, or pray more, or have him be delivered because he is demon possessed, or fast more, or more counseling, etc. If there was a magic wand or a magic pill to have him not have these desires this discussion would not be occurring. If there was one around to make me lose weight I would be taking that. That is a silly notion.
I will take the hits from nameless and faceless individuals. People make their comments and go on. But I wonder how many who are very critical know what they are talking about? I wonder how many who are willing to cast the first stone can identify? I wonder how many want to post something simply so the “feel good”?
I will reevaluate my words next time concerning this because this is not the platform nor the venue to discuss this to the world. For that I do apologize. This is the real and only reason that I am posting and addressing you.
Have a great day.
Heather has one mommie, another legal female guardian, and a sperm donor (a.k.a. “father”).
Billie has one daddie, another legal male guardian, and a rented womb bank (a.k.a. “mother”).
Then there are the social constructs of “babies” that have been literally deconstructed so that women can have abortion rites and Planned Parenthood et al can engage in clinical cannibalism.
Progress or something.
It didn’t exactly help when (heterosexual) fathers-to-be started saying “We’re pregnant.”
Interestingly, fully one third of Australian divorces with children have DNA tests showing that the husband is not the father of one or more of the kids. So down under, “we’re pregnant” is a lie one out of three times.
My former brother-in-law once said “We’re pregnant.” I’m pretty sure he’s gay.
I wonder if the post-book-reading discussion was going to include the studies that have shown the high rates of depression and suicide among “transgendered” individuals? I wonder if the discussion was going to address the opinions of people like Renee Richards, a prominent “transgendered” individual who wrote of her profound disappointment in her post “sex change surgery” life? I wonder if the discussion was going to feature the studies that have shown how frequently “transgender” children change their minds about their gender identity?
Actually, I don’t wonder about those things at all. We all know those things would not have been addressed. The entire purpose of the school-sanctioned “education” kids receive about “transgendered” individuals is not to actually educate kids, but to indoctrinate them by feeding them a line of white-washed leftist BS, without ever exposing them to any different points of view or contrary evidence.
It’s good that these parents spoke out. We need more of this. And kudos to the Liberty Counsel for their assist.
“…all students deserve respect and support regardless of their gender identity and expression…”
After asking myself “Why?” when my normal reaction would have been critical as the issue is overly disruptive to the normal functioning of society. In order to make what has been estimated to be 0.4% of the population (even that’s iffy) feel safe and nurtured, the rest of society has to put up with this nonsense.
Then I realized that while this effort to create a “safe and nurturing environment” in this public school is ongoing, colleges across the country are undergoing radical change to create safe spaces where students can be nurtured despite their serious deficiencies of character. Again, as in this public school, free speech rights are compromised in order to provide support for these students.
Remarkably similar demands. Curious. It’s almost like it’s organized or something.
I would not trust the amoral mental health community to make any suggestion/decision for me or my children. They are clueless panderers.
The terrible irony is that the LGBT community lobbied the psych community to have all of their dysfunctions removed from of the DSM and then they use public school psychologists as justifiers to subvert young minds into accepting perverse behavior. This is not unlike what happened when the Ithaca, NY chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace brought Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi to a third grade class. Propaganda is used on young minds by subversive groups to brainwash them into complicity.
One huge issue in the spread of this rubbish is that the nut jobs promoting it tend o be able to get good pro bono legal representation. The school districts and local governments face blowing through several years; worth of budgeted expenses just to fight back plus if they lose, the damages will bankrupt them. That is the reason so many of them capitulate.
My problem is that gender dysphoria appears to be a mental illness of a recognizable class, where people have a delusion about their body makeup. This kind of delusion appears to be related to the type of society. Other examples include a conviction that the person is made of a strange material, such as concrete or glass.
These people are in pain, and indulging the delusion does seem to help for a while, but does nothing positive (does not reduce depression/suicide rate) several years later.
It seems cruel and cynical to give people in emotional pain inappropriate hormones and mutilating surgery.
Reason 9,539,462 why I homeschool.