In February, a state-operated Wisconsin school district held an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion professional development session that included in its slide presentation a stunning warning to teachers: Parents don’t have a right to know how the children they brought into the world identify sexually.

Parents have the responsibility to feed, clothe and nurture the children born into their family, but when those children are enrolled in government schools, parental roles change dramatically – at least that’s what teachers are being taught.

Verbatim, the Wisconsin district’s slide said: “Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids’ identities. That knowledge must be earned. Teachers are often straddling this complex situation.”  In their school district, it said, “Our priority is supporting the student.”

Such parent-exclusionary attitudes demanded of instructors like the one uncovered in Wisconsin is sadly becoming more and more common. So common, in fact, the state of Florida reacted strongly by putting into effect a law restricting gender and sexual orientation instruction for the youngest public school students through third grade.

And while the majority media promotes the anti-parent concept, a recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that 62% of likely U.S. Voters would support a law like Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill in their own state, including 45% who Strongly Support the measure.

Illinois’ policy on gender identity instruction

The chances of a bill like the one in Florida making its way into law with Illinois’ current administration are null and void.

In September 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB 818, which promotes “gender identity” to kindergartners, as well as “abortion,” “contraception,” “masturbation,” and “sexual orientation” to children in third through twelfth grades.

The bill’s House sponsor, State Rep. Camille Lily (D-Chicago) said she’d been working for years to reject Illinois’ abstinence-only sex education.

“Seven years ago when we fought to move sexual health education in Illinois beyond abstinence-only education, we knew there was more work to be done,” she said. “Today marks another step in our efforts to ensure that young people receive a full toolbox of knowledge and skills to reduce harm and support overall health for their entire lives.”

Illinois parents have the ability to “opt out” their children from the sex ed curriculum. School districts that do not choose to offer comprehensive sex education are not required to adopt the National Sex Education Standards developed by the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) Initiative, a partnership between Advocates for Youth, Answer, and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change.

However, the vast majority of school districts will embrace the new policy because state funding always funnels toward those school districts that snap into state law-approved and -promoted agenda.

What one Illinois district says on their website about “Equity & Diversity”

And while no instructional slide similar to the one used in the Wisconsin session has been uncovered from an Illinois district, one of the state’s largest school districts, U-46 based in Elgin, has on its website a published policy on “Equity & Diversity” with detailed instructions on how they intend to keep transgender students’ information private:

Transgender students have the right to openly discuss and express their gender identity and expression at school and school activities and to decide when, with whom, and how to share private information. School staff, however, shall not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to unauthorized parties. Therefore, given the sensitive nature of the information, when speaking with other staff members, parents, guardians, or third parties, school staff should not disclose a student’s preferred name, pronoun, or other confidential information pertaining to the student’s transgender or gender nonconforming status without the written permission of a transgender student who is eighteen years old or older or the written permission of the parent/legal guardian of a minor transgender student. 

U-46’s published policy is confusing. While there’s a caution about disclosing gender identity information to other staff members, parents, guardians or other third parties, a parent or guardian of a student under the age of 18 must grant written permission to share that information.

The conflicted scenario this policy sets up is one of distrust and confusion between teachers, parents and students – very similar to the one about which the Wisconsin slide warns.

And one of which U-46 parents should be aware.

 What Illinois parents can do to protect their children

 First and utmost, keep an open communication with your children about these topics. What are the teachers saying? What are their peers saying about sexual issues? Are they comfortable or uncomfortable with what they are seeing and hearing?

Be their advocates. Legal help is available.

Illinois Family Institute’s attorney, Jim Davids, has filed suit against a school board in Maryland challenging its policy, which is similar to Illinois’, and will soon file suit against another school board in Minnesota.

Davids is looking for courageous parents to challenge similar school board policies here in Illinois.

“If you are the parent of a minor child who is in a school district with a policy like the one above, contact Illinois Family Institute,” Davids said. “I promise to keep all identities confidential.”

Contact Illinois Family Institute if you have any questions or your students raise concerns about what they’re hearing and seeing at school. IFI is ready and has the resources to help.