I don't hate you...but leave my kids alone

Dear “Pronoun People”,

Yes, it's me. One of those “haters.” One of those parents who doesn't want the school teaching my kindergartner your gender ideology and his sexual options.  

You think this means I abhor you. You think this means I am out to persecute, threaten, and hurt you. You think saying no to teaching my children about you and how you live means I don't think you should exist.

This makes me sad, actually.

I'm sad that you equate my desire to choose how my child should learn about the world with hatred of another person. Now, I will be quite clear — your lifestyle choices do not jive with my beliefs about how we are meant to live. But another belief of mine is that while we will all eventually have to answer for how we've chosen to lead our lives, those choices are entirely, individually ours to make. Trying to force and intimidate a person into living according to someone else's rules is tyranny, and I'm not into that.

So, if there are certain teachings I don't want my children exposed to at school, if there are conversations I want to have with them about some sensitive areas of life rather than letting the school do that for me, that's my choice. Really, it has nothing to do with you. 

And actually, I'll tell you what I want to teach my children to think about people like you. I want them to look at you and see human beings who are intrinsically valuable and lovable. I want them to see you as worthy of kindness even though your choices look different from those of our family. I want them to know that you can deeply disagree with what someone else is doing but still treat them with respect. I want them to see you as children of God, just as they themselves are. 

Doesn't that sound a lot like what you're always saying you want from the rest of us? 

Does it really sound like I wish you were dead?

I don't hate you — I just want to parent my kids. Could you please leave me to it?