A Washington state elementary school has come under fire for reportedly using Planned Parenthood sex ed materials that parents learned about only after the lessons took place.
According to radio host Jason Rantz, fourth and fifth-grade students (typically ages nine and 10) at Lincoln Elementary in the Olympia School District were given sex education lessons on May 9 which parents were told were approved by the district. However, the lessons the students were given were reportedly not actually approved, and the lesson included information and graphics that parents found concerning.
Rantz reported, “Materials presented by Planned Parenthood included drawings of pubic hair shaped like an animal, and students were told they could pick from a number of contrived genders to identify as. Some of the materials promoted medication to block puberty.”
While some of the information given to students was to be expected, some parents found other information inappropriate. For example, on a page stating, “Supplies that could be helpful during puberty! (you get to choose what works best for you!),” multiple items were listed such as razors, tampons, deodorant, and bras. However, “puberty blockers” (drugs given to suppress the natural changes of puberty) were also included.
“Our primary concern for our kids is the fact that the school district presented the information as being very neutral and quite honestly basic pubescent/anatomy driven,” one father of a Lincoln Elementary student said in an email to The Jason Rantz Show. “Then when we became privy to the actual content of the presentation (after the fact and at our own discovery, not the school’s disclosure) it was completely different.”
In addition to being asked what pronouns ‘feel good’ to them, the students were given a “gender wheel” worksheet that included different so-called identities including “trans,” “intersex,” “drag king,” “trans femme,” “agender person,” “boi grrl,” and “nonbinary.” Possible pronouns included he and she but also “they,” “ze,” and “tree.”
Drawings of vaginas and penises were also included with public hair “art” such as a cat and a heart. Other drawings featured “examples of intersex variation.”
According to Rantz, the sex ed lesson was led by Teen Council, a peer-led sex ed program from Planned Parenthood with an adult giving the lesson in this case. The school’s principal allegedly said that the presenters “went off script” and that the school staff was “surprised and did not know what they were going to do.” The school said it will not use the same presenter in the future.
“We are investigating the matter and working with staff to get more information to determine next steps,” a district spokesperson told The Jason Rantz Show.