Transgender Training!
At Franklin Elementary School in Alameda 2008
Last school year, one of my friends whose children also attend Franklin Elementary, called me shortly after school had let out to ask if I had received any kind of notification from the principal, concerning a panel of gltb speakers that had visited several of the classrooms and held “discussion panels” with the students. I had heard nothing of the sort; either from the principal or my son’s 1st grade teacher.
I later spoke to another friend who was a member of the PTA and was present during a meeting that was held after the gltb speakers (http://www.genderspectrum.org) had been to the school. She had pointedly asked the principal why she failed to inform the parents ahead of time. The principal said she “purposefully” withheld the information regarding the speakers, because she did not want the parents to be able to opt their children out of the “discussions”.
I approached my son’s teacher the following day, and was informed that the school invited the speakers due to the feelings of a boy who sincerely believes that he was really meant to be a girl. She went on to say that the teachers were given the option to opt out of the discussions. With the exception of the classroom that the child was in, two of the three first grade teachers opted out of having the speakers visit their classrooms. They felt that there was no real need and that their students benefited more from their private classroom discussions (which they had earlier on in the week) about the situation.
I vividly recall the day when my son told me about the classroom meeting that his teacher held concerning the boy who was being picked on. After listening intently to his report of the meeting, I took the opportunity to sit down and thoroughly discuss with him the need to be kind and compassionate toward others who are different from him. I feel that his teacher’s class meeting combined with my own one-on-one discussion with my son was perfectly appropriate and successful in “dealing” with the situation at the school.
I commended my son’s teacher for her decision and told her that I felt it was inappropriate for the school to provide a forum with which the gltb could indoctrinate my child without my knowledge and consent. When I brought up the fact that I found the principal’s willful act of deception with regard to the speakers abhorrent and out of line, his teacher told me that the principal had stated that “tolerance training is not optional.”
Last Spring, I learned that Gender Spectrum had been invited to return to Franklin Elementary to speak to the students in the classes that had previously opted out. My initial reaction was to keep my son home. I informed his teacher of my intentions and was told that I was free to sit in on the “discussion”, so both myself and my son attended.
The two 1st grade classes were combined for about an hour to hear Stephanie Brill and Aidan Key. The children sat on the floor in a very intimate setting. Ms. Brill began by asking the children about “boy colors” and “girl colors” and “boy subjects” and “girl subjects.” Ms. Brill told the children the different ways to be a boy and a girl are “infinity and beyond”. She also went on to say, “I know a lot of boys who like to play with Barbies, but I know that they’re afraid to admit it.” I did not appreciate her promotion of the idea that it’s perfectly natural and normal for a boy to wear a dress and/or makeup should he feel inclined to do so.
Ms. Brill then led the children in discussing how important it is to be sensitive to the feelings of others and to be a friend to those who are put down and picked on because they are different. I wholeheartedly agreed with her comments with regard to being a friend to the friendless. It is a principle that my husband and I teach our children in word and in deed.
However, Ms. Brill proceeded to ask the children how they could tell the difference between the way that a man looks versus the way that a woman looks. She pointed to her co-speaker, Aidan Key, and asked the children, “Is Aidan a man or a woman?” They unanimously chorused, “He’s a man!” She retorted, “Oh really? What makes you think that?” “Because he’s got short hair!” was one reply. “Well, I have short hair, does that make me a man?” Ms. Brill asked. The children conceded that Ms. Brill’s short hair did not indeed make her a man. “He’s wearing man clothes!” was another reply. “Oh really? Well, I’m wearing jeans and a buttoned up shirt…does that make me a man?” Ms. Brill challenged again. And again, the children had to agree that the clothes did not necessarily make Mr. Key a man. “He has facial hair and a deep voice!” another child offered. Finally, Ms. Brill turned to Mr. Key and asked him to “share his story” with the children.
Mr. Key proceeded to tell the children about how he was once a girl when he was their age. He told them that he did not feel that he was supposed to be a girl. He also told them that when got older he took medication and had an operation to assume the full identity of a male, “…because what you see here (points to chest and facial hair) is not natural.”
I studied the faces of the children and felt sick to my stomach as I saw the awe in which they held the speakers and the absolute trust in their eyes. Ms. Brill asked the children if they had any questions for Mr. Key “…about having been a girl and then now being a man.” One child asked the speakers which gender they related to the most. Ms. Brill’s reply to the children was, “I feel like I’m both.” Mr. Key’s reply was, “Some days I feel like I’m a man, some days I feel like I’m both.” He went on to say, “Inside I feel like I’m mostly boy, but partly still girl”.
I could only imagine how confusing that was to the children. Ms. Brill's counsel to the children was to “…find out what works for us…how we like to look”. Her closing remarks to the children were “… you can do whatever you wanna do … look however you wanna look … please treat others with kindness.”
I am thankful to have made the decision to sit in on the discussion led by Stephanie Brill of Gender Spectrum. I am thankful to have listened with my own ears and to have witnessed with my own eyes the increasingly bold and unabashed utilization of the public school classroom as a vehicle to further one group’s social agenda and indoctrinate the minds of the very young and impressionable. My experience attending compulsory “tolerance training” sent a very clear message to me that Franklin Elementary was not a safe place for my child to be educated. I removed him from the school so he will not learn intolerance toward his own family’s beliefs.
Alameda Parent
Written Spring 2009 Emphasis, Ours
