Lafayette, CA—A school district already in hot water for its controversial sex education program has further infuriated parents by singling out and shaming students who don’t subscribe to politically correct views on gay issues.
Attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute sent a demand letter to Acalanes High School Feb. 4 over incidents where students were singled out and ostracized for their beliefs.
According to PJI, students said that, on Jan. 29, members of the school’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) took over all freshmen English classes to grill students about their beliefs and their parents’ beliefs on LGBT issues.
The QSA had students step forward to demonstrate whether they believed that being gay was a choice and whether their parents would be accepting if they came out as gay. Students who did not step forward were ridiculed and humiliated.
The QSA also gave students a handout of LGBT terminology such as “pan-sexual,” “demi-sexual,” “gray gender,” and about a dozen other terms. The QSA also had students line up to demonstrate where they fell on the “gender spectrum.”
PJI believes the school exercise violated federal and state laws requiring parental notice and permission before students are questioned about personal or family beliefs on sexuality or morality.
According to PJI attorneys the school’s actions violated the students’ constitutional privacy rights. The letter demanded that the school immediately cease the interrogations and suspend the QSA. The letter also demands all public records associated with the events of Jan. 29, including e-mails from school officials who approved it.
“Singling out students for ridicule based on their moral or political beliefs is a Marxist tactic that should have no place in the United States of America,” noted Brad Dacus, the president of PJI.
“We’re not going to put up with this intimidation and interrogation of students, and it’s also time for other community members to join PJI and the parents we represent in speaking out against the outrages happening in their school district,” continued Dacus.
In November, QSA tried to establish a club on a high school campus in Winfield, West Virginia but could not find a faculty sponsor.
Bruce McGrew, the principal of Winfield High School told the Charleston Gazette that he believes the creation of such a group would allow more opportunities for students to bully other students.
If you’re asking my personal beliefs, that’s one thing, but what you’ve got to understand is we don’t want to have anything where there’s bullying involved, and if you bring attention to that sort of thing, it’s going to create bullying,” McGrew told the Gazette. “Our job is to protect all kids from that.”
The same school and district, over the past several months, has come under fire for allowing Planned Parenthood to teach sex education.
PJI has retained documents that show the instructors encouraging the freshmen students to ask each other questions like, “Can I take your shirt off?” and “Is it okay if I take my pants off?”
A sex checklist given to the freshmen also suggested they were “ready” for sex when they would not feel guilty about it and knew how to use lubricants.
“Acalanes High School and the District have defied common sense, ignored the law and broken parents’ trust,” said PJI attorney Matthew McReynolds, who sent the letter. “These administrators are acting like schoolyard bullies. If they think intimidation is going to work on us or these parents, they are greatly mistaken.”