Minnesota School District Partnered With Organization Promoting Resources for ‘Gender Expansive’ Children

A person holds a transgender pride flag in New York on June 28, 2019. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Minnesota’s second-largest public school district is partnering with organizations that offer gender identity-focused curricula for young children to advance the goal of “interrupting systems of marginalization,” a report says.

According to the website of St. Paul Public Schools, one of the listed partners of the school district’s equity department is AMAZEworks, a local non-profit organization that “offers anti-bias education curriculum, programs, and training for schools.” The partnership appears to involve AMAZEworks providing materials that can be potentially used to teach the district’s youngest students about topics like sex and gender.

Among AMAZEworks’ resources available on its website is “PRIDE resources for Caregivers,” a lesson plan (pdf) designed to help children aged 3 to 12 “understand gender diversity” and reduce their supposed bias against peers who are considered “gender expansive.”

“Many children who are gender expansive, who do not express gender according to stereotypical gender roles, and who are gender non-binary or transgender experience bias, teasing, mistreatment, and exclusion because of their gender identity and expression,” a preface for the lesson plan states, encouraging caregivers to have “honest, intentional conversations” with children on “gender diversity, including gender identity and expression.”

The lessons include “My Princess Boy” by Cheryl Kilodavis, a picture book about “a little boy who loves the color pink, sparkly things, and being a princess.” Another picture book, “When Aidan Became a Brother” by Kyle Lukoff, is described as a story about how parents of Aidan “fixed things in his life so they fit him better” when their daughter told them she “felt more like a boy.” AMAZEworks recommends both books for children age 4 and above.

Another partner is OutFront Minnesota, a pro-LGBTQ social service group that operates a “free chest binder program” for transgender people under the age of 24. The group is tasked to “decrease intersectional inequity and increase LGBTQ+ inclusivity in classrooms, schools, districts, and youth organizations.”

The partnerships were first noticed by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a pro-parental rights organization that has been documenting attempts to inject progressive activism into K-12 schools across the nation. In a statement to the Washington Examiner, PDE Director of Outreach Erika Sanzi said the district is “pushing ideologically driven content and resources on students and families.

“It is one thing to treat all students with the dignity they deserve; it is quite another to be so far out of your lane that you are partnering with outside organizations that think it is appropriate to engage toddlers in conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation,” Sanzi said.

The school district didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.