OPINION: The Sexualization of Students in CA Schools is Escalating to an Ugly Place

California public schools aren’t your grandfather’s schools any longer. Today’s lesson plans are written by Social Justice Warriors and LGBT activists, and enshrined in the California education code. And what is being foisted on children as young as age five, cannot even be uttered on the public airways, because radio stations would receive a violation letter from the Federal Communications Commission.

If sexually explicit language is unsuitable for public consumption on radio, wouldn’t it also be unsuitable for school-aged children?

I’ve been covering education issues in California for many years and watched as parental concerns have escalated from declining liberal arts curriculum to sexualized curriculum, as well as the sexualization of young and teen students. Parents have turned over volumes of sexualized curriculum their young children have been exposed to in the classroom. Others have found copies of highly inappropriate library books featuring cartoon pictures of young kids performing sex acts, written descriptions of sex acts, and books encouraging the exploration of gender fluidity.

Parents have reacted predictably shocked, appalled and angry, and say they felt betrayed by their schools. When they appeared at school board meetings to express their displeasure and distrust, many were treated with disdain, and called “violent,” and uncontrollable, and in some cases, tossed out.

Roseville area parents recently contacted the Globe about a drag queen show at the high school, scheduled by a local pastor. They were justifiably upset and weren’t getting enough assurances or proper responses from school officials. Parents deemed this a top priority problem, while others accused them of being intolerant.

I read through all of their correspondence with the school district and their concerns are and have been almost exclusively about age-appropriate events, as well as the health and safety of their children, given the nature of the highly sexualized drag queen adult entertainment and sexualized curriculum.

The “Landing Spot” which applied for the school event permit, is listed as one of the ministries under the umbrella of the Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ (LBCUCC), “a progressive Christian church serving Placer County,” lead by Pastor Casey Tinnin.

RJUHSD parents contacted the school board, which immediately went to the district superintendent exposing the group cloaked as a “church” event, and said that because of the direct appeal to the students, the group needs to be banned from the school grounds.

Pastor Tinnin, also known as The Queerly Faithful Pastor, says in his bio, “For anyone who does not know me I am a Preacher, protester, and (some would say) ‘everybody’s pastor.’ I love to hike, talk theology, politics, and sex.”

The Landing Spot was involved with the Roseville school district’s Wellness Centers in a counseling capacity, counseling school kids on and off campus.

Recent Globe coverage reported that Project Veritas posted a video featuring the Landing Spot’s leader, Pastor Tinnin. The Project Veritas video confirms parent’s concerns when they spoke to “Anna,” a psychiatrist at the Roseville High School Wellness Center. She verified that they don’t have to call parents, when counseling students. “That’s a protection thing in California,” Anna says. “We have some parents that are really upset about that,” she says as she giggles and smiles.

“I and the older queer folk are mentoring these young adults,” Pastor Casey Tinnin told Project Veritas.

As a parent, I understand their frustration with what appears to be more tolerance by school and district officials for the activists pushing the sexual activities, than concern for the minor children in their care.

Parents have decried sexually explicit materials they say is pushed by the English teachers at high schools in the district.

Notably, Pastor Tinnin commented in the Project Veritas video, “I’ve created curriculum.”

Some parents say The Landing Spot uses a technique known as “alienation” of the parent on their kids, driving a wedge between parent and child during the so-called counseling.

Last week, parents sent the Globe screen shots of social media posts by local Antifa and Resist groups, ahead of the school board meeting, rallying support for Pastor Tinnin, and claiming the RJUHSD issue was about “hate” and intolerance:

Parents also sent photos of transgender flags flying at several schools, as well as at the district office on “Trans Day of Vengeance”:

Parents were once again frustrated and contacted the district, reminding district officials the Board may, through the adoption of a resolution, authorize the display of symbolic flags or banners in support of specific awareness months. They said they found no public record from any recent board meeting showing there was a resolution adopted to fly this flag.

The parents attached the above photos and identified the RJUHSD District Office and several High Schools including Oakmont, Granite Bay, Woodcreek, Antelope and West Park, flying the Transgender Flag.

The Globe talked at length with a member of the LGBT community active with Gays Against Groomers on Twitter. He agrees with the concerns of the Roseville parents, and works with many parent groups around the state on identifying the warning signs of adult LGBT “groomers” involved in and at schools.

He also noted that once Pastor Tinnin was exposed and recorded by Project Veritas admitting on video that his group targets younger teens calling them “the easiest low-hanging fruit,” he then pivoted to playing the victim. “The radical activists will do anything to intimidate you,” he said. And victimhood is one way.

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. explained at the Heritage Foundation:

“As new gender ideologies are promoted throughout America, their lies will impact not only those who suffer from gender dysphoria, but all children who need to mature in their self-understanding as a boy or girl, man or woman, a potential husband or wife, father or mother.”

“the best studies of gender dysphoria show that between 80 and 95 percent of children who express a discordant gender identity will come to identify with their bodily sex if natural development is allowed to proceed.”

“Never mind that ‘transitioning’ treatment has not been shown to reduce the extraordinarily high rate of suicide attempts among people who identify as transgender (41 percent, compared with 4.6 percent of the general population).

Never mind that people who have had transition surgery are 19 times more likely to die by suicide.”

These are the concerns of most parents opposing school policies which like RJUHSD, secretly allowed students access to The Landing Spot, as well as to leave campus for “counseling,” without parental involvement or permission.

The Globe spoke with a mother of a child who experienced gender dysphoria, identified as a member of the opposite sex for about 18 months, but eventually progressed back to her original female biological sex/gender with the help of therapy. But her child was introduced to gender identity ideology in a comprehensive sex-ed class in seventh grade – 13-year old middle schoolers were exposed to the teaching of gender ideology.

That, together with the growing volumes of sexualized curriculum, poses a disaster and even danger to many families expecting traditional education.

Below are examples of inappropriate school curriculum parents have discovered and object to, all adopted by the California State Board of Education:

A few years ago, Informed Parents of California pulled together the most objectionable portions of the 1000 page framework document in a 24 page summary with excerpts for K-6th grade health lessons, complete with pictures of some of the recommended supplemental materials. This document includes:

Elementary School: It is permissible to teach knowledge and skills related to comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education in grades kindergarten through grade six (K–6), inclusive. All instruction and materials in grades K–6 must meet the instructional criteria or baseline requirements in EC Section 51933. Content that is required in grades 7–12 may be also be included in an age-appropriate way in earlier grades. (EC sections 51933, 51934[b].)
(This information has been copied directly from the California Department of Education Website.

Kindergarten: “Students also learn about individual differences, including gender, from a very early age… students can still begin to challenge gender stereotypes in a way that is age appropriate. While students may not fully understand the concepts of gender expression and identity, some children in kindergarten and even younger have identified as transgender or understand they have a gender identity that is different from their sex assigned at birth. This may present itself in different ways including dress, activity preferences, experimenting with dramatic play, and feeling uncomfortable self-identifying with their sex assigned at birth.”

Grade 1: Parents, guardians, or caretakers receive a handout with suggestions on how to initiate a conversation on growth and development with their child. Books such as It’s Not the Stork! A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends by Robie H. Harris (2008) or Who Are You?: The Kids Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin‐Whedbee (2017) can be shared together.

In Grade 4 the California Department of Education teaches, “An estimated 3.1 percent of California high school students reported being sexually active before the age of 13. Approximately 32.3 percent of high school students are sexually active, making sexual health education a critical content area in late elementary.”

Additional curriculum details:

• Kindergarten books that introduce 5-year-olds to families with members who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
• First grade gender vocabulary lessons on words such as third gender, trans, queergender, non-binary, gender fluid, gender neutral, agender, bigender, and two-spirits.
• Lessons for 1st graders that provide detailed descriptions of sex with these quotes such as: “The man’s penis goes inside the woman’s vagina,” and “sperm can swim out through the small opening in the man’s penis – and into the woman’s vagina.”
• Pictures in a book for third graders showing a cartoon drawing of a penis ejaculating sperm while inserted into a vagina.
• Lessons which teach third graders that sexual reproductive organs don’t always match a person’s gender.
• Recommendations that fifth graders are taught sexual health lessons that must include examples of same-sex sexual activity. Students should not be separated by sex during these lessons to avoid “misgendering” students.
• Books that introduce 10-year-olds to anal sex, and the slang for male and female genitals.

The sexualization of California school kids is escalating to an ugly place; school boards and district officials must remember when pressured by activists that they are legally responsible – guaranteed by the California Constitution – to provide California children public schools that are safe, secure, and peaceful.