In California, a public school district is ordering its teachers to tell the parents of students that their children cannot opt out of diversity classes featuring “anti-racist” lessons, and gender and sexual identity.
According to the Daily Caller, the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) gave the order in a staff-wide email dictating the terms of the district’s “Non- Discrimination & Harassment and Equity & Anti–Racism” policy. The order declares that any effort to let children opt out of such classes would be enabling “active discrimination.” While the email does say parents are allowed to opt their children out of classes on “comprehensive sexuality education,” they are still required to take classes with “anti-bias lessons about people who are LGBTQ.”
“Our HUSD anti-bias, anti-racist and equity policies, as well as California laws, guide us to provide inclusive lessons that promote safety and acceptance for all identities and to not allow the exclusion of students from these lessons,” the email reads in part.
“We are talking about respect. Anti-LGBTQ, gender-related put-downs and racial slurs are among the most common slurs in school environments,” the email claims, with no evidence. “And addressing these slurs is essential for the physical, emotional and academic well-being of all students.”
The email included a list of talking points for teachers to use when they tell parents they are not allowed to opt their children out of such classes. The talking points, collectively titled “Welcoming Schools,” were written up by the far-left pro-LGBTQ group Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Among the talking points were the claims that “youth must understand the world and people in it,” and the false claim that “learning about LGBTQ people will not ‘turn’ students LGBTQ.”
Teachers were also advised to not “overload” parents with information, essentially telling them to not let the parents know the extent of such classes and keep certain details secret from them.
The policy was implemented as a result of the “FAIR Education Act of 2011,” a state law which dictates that all public schools in California teach classes about “diverse, racial and ethnic identities.” Another law directly influencing the school’s order is the “California Healthy Youth Act,” which demands that every public school student in the state receive a comprehensive education about sexuality.