Gender identity video shown at Middle School sparks outrage

Parents in the Rockville Centre School District expressed outrage last week that a video on gender identity was shown to a seventh-grade health class at South Side Middle School in May — without prior notice to the students’ parents.

In response, more than 400 district residents have signed a petition demanding that the lesson be removed, and that parents be informed before their children have a class focusing on the controversial topic.

“The majority of the signatures were gathered in approximately 10 days, just before the end of the school year,” Sarah Cooney, a mother of two boys who attend district schools, told administrators at the July 31 Board of Education meeting. “The petition was prompted by the discovery in May that the entire seventh grade was being shown a video on gender identity in health class. In the video, the presenter, wearing a T-shirt stating ‘Science in Progress,’ made unscientific claims such as that there are more than two genders. Children came home with notes on transgenderism, gender fluidity and pansexuality.”

Cooney said that after the district received several complaints from parents, the video was pulled from the class on the basis that it was developmentally inappropriate, but she expressed concern that the district could substitute other material on the topic that it deemed appropriate for students.

“There is no New York state mandate to teach gender identity in public schools,” Cooney said. “Any attempt to create one would be met with widespread opposition on the basis that this ideology not only ignores human biology and scientific fact, (but) that it’s contrary to commonly held religious beliefs that God created us as male and female. Arguably, teaching it is a violation of the First Amendment regarding freedom of religion. Nevertheless, this district appears to have already taken the momentous decision to teach it without consulting parents.”

The video, entitled “Every Sex & Gender Term Explained,” is part of a YouTube video series that was hosted by podcaster and producer Trace Dominguez in 2015. The film is roughly 10 minutes long, and explores the topic by defining gender-related terms.

Because of the film’s sensitive subject matter, several of the petitioners who attended the board meeting voiced concerns that parents were not notified first.

“All at once, I was saddened and vexed that a lesson on a controversial topic like gender fluidity was introduced to seventh-graders without first having obtained permission from parents,” Kenneth Middleton, one of those who signed the petition, said. “The Boards of Education of school systems are an adjunct to parents, not a substitute. It is far beyond their purview to educate our children about alternative lifestyles (and) introduce them to sexually explicit material and literature.”

Shannon Lutz, a former elementary school teacher and the mother of three children in the district, said she signed the petition hoping that it would put an end to discussion of the topic in an educational setting and allow parents to teach their children about such things when and how they see fit.

“There is enough propaganda in the media I have to shield my children from already,” Lutz said. “They do not and should not be privy to this type of false and, quite frankly, confusing information being taught in school. School should be a safe place for children.”

She indicated that the petition also had several silent supporters who felt unable to sign either due to their occupation or out of fear of being labeled “transphobic.”

“How very sad the times we are living in, when people are afraid to speak up for what they believe, especially when it comes to our children, in fear of hostile retaliation,” Lutz said.

District Superintendent Matt Gaven said that the video had previously been brought to his attention, and that it is not part of the official curriculum or based on New York state standards.

“A few years ago, there were a bunch of students that had asked questions related to the topic — unprompted — not related to a lesson,” Gaven said. “The teachers tried to be proactive and put that lesson together. When it was brought to my attention, I told the teachers it was inappropriate — both age level and topic — because it’s not based on New York state standards.”

According to Gaven, the middle school health teacher did not have permission from the district to show the video to students. Asked what the district was doing to address the matter, Gaven replied that the administration and school board do not discuss disciplinary actions in public.

He further explained that when school starts in September, the district would introduce a new health, athletics and physical education director, who will be tasked with reviewing the district’s current health curriculum with community stakeholders. They will then return to the school board to present their recommendations publicly, in order to keep the process as transparent as possible.

One option, when dealing with sensitive subject matters like maturation and puberty, Gaven added, is to consider sending a letter to parents, allowing them to review the material and opt their children out if they choose.