Classroom politicization drives more parents to home-school their children, Texas mom says
A Texas mother pulled her children from public school to homeschool due to concerns of politically biased teaching in school curriculum and peer discussions.
A Detroit News editor blasted today's scools for the "intrusion" into her parental rights after her young daughter came home with "The Family Book," which delves into non-traditional families.
"I have no objections to her understanding the diversity of family life today," Detroit News Assistant Editorial Page Editor Kaitlyn Buss wrote of her daughter's reading material in a recent opinion piece. "I want her to know there are families different from hers in a variety of ways. But at 4 years old, she’s not ready to talk about why different kinds of families exist. And when she is ready, it’s my responsibility to teach her according to my family's values, not the school’s."
Tom Parr's "The Family Book," Buss said, details the diversity of different families, reading in part that "some families have two moms or two dads," and "some families have one parent instead of two." It was banned by the Erie, Ill., school board in 2012, according to reports.
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"When I send my four kids off for the day, I’m not surrendering my parental rights. But increasingly, that’s what progressive educators and lawmakers want us to accept," Buss continued.
FILE - A school bus stop in Muhlenberg Township, Pennsylvania, Oct. 20, 2021. (Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) (Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
Discussions of gender and sexuality, Buss argued, have no place in the classroom.
ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARIAN PROMOTES CONTROVERSIAL GRAPHIC NOVEL ‘GENDER QUEER’ ON TIK TOK
She identified states that have enacted policies or spearheaded agendas she argued are counter to parental rights. She singled out Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom's signing of Senate Bill 107, which will block state officials from enforcing laws from other states that hinder access to transgender medical procedures and drugs.
The bill, Buss said, "strips rights from parents" from another state if their child travels to California to obtain gender transition procedures, including puberty blockers, sex hormones and surgeries.
Parents and activists protest Los Alamitos School Board President Marlys Davidson in Los Alamitos, CA, on Monday, November 1, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images) (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
FAIRFAX COUNTY LIBRARY PUTS ‘GENDER QUEER’ AND ‘LAWN BOY’ NEXT TO BIBLE IN ‘HOLIDAY READING DISPLAY’
Parents of all political stripes and backgrounds have become more involved in their kids' education after the COVID-19 pandemic gave them greater glimpses into their classrooms. Many, like Buss, have sounded off on schools' use of controversial books, including "Gender Queer," an award-winning 2014 graphic novel by Maia Kobabe which includes photos of sexual acts between a boy and a man.
An Illinois high school librarian recently came under fire online after sharing a TikTok video promoting the book, which has been banned in many libraries and school districts across the country.
"One of the things I loved about this book is that it's a great window and mirror book, meaning people who are questioning their sexual identity and gender identity are going to view this book as a mirror, a reflective experience of their own," Lanipher High School librarian Alyx Corcoran said in the video.
Books previously in Tulsa Public schools (Fox News Digital)
A library in Fairfax, Va., came under fire last year for displaying "Gender Queer" and "Lawn Boy," which parents also claim feature pedophilia and obscene material, alongside the Bible. The library later removed the display after a local outcry.
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Kobabe has defended her book as "unbelievably tame."
"It does touch on masturbation, sex toys, and sexual health," Kobabe told TIME Magazine in August. "There is a pap smear exam in the book, which is rarely mentioned in the scenes people are concerned about, but in my opinion is probably the most intense scene of the book."
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