No parents allowed: Minnesota funds sexualized trips for kids
Minnesota is funding sexualized nature trips for middle and high school children where parents are not welcome.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has given a $10,500 grant to an environmental non-profit called Clean River Partners for its QUEERY program. In QUEERY, “queer” children ages 11-17 are led on monthly excursions by Heron Mahr, a “trans non-binary naturalist” who uses “they/them” pronouns. Mahr teaches the children about “queerness in nature,” such as female wood-frog tadpoles which can reverse their sex.
“As humans, we think in a very binary sort of way: ‘You’re a man or a woman,’” Mahr said. “We have examples in nature, all around us, that there can be so much more abundance and so much more diversity. And that’s something that I think more young people could benefit from knowing, that it’s not weird to feel different. You know, it’s okay to not fit all those little checkboxes. It’s actually a great thing.”
The Daily Wire reports that Mahr has asked parents not to attend these trips “so participants have the chance to build their independence outdoors.” Mahr promises “ample adult supervision, including myself, a Carleton student who is supporting the program, and occasional guest instructors.” The student is reported to be Vio Csedrik, who runs a student drag group at Carleton College.
Clean River Partners Executive Director Jennifer Tonko said parents are not exactly forbidden from the program “but it is meant to be a space for youth and it’s designed as such.”
Secret LGBTQ clubs
Parental absence appears to be a central feature of gender ideology. Several elementary schools, for example, hold secret LGBTQ clubs where students can “crush” on each other. Parents are deliberately kept in the dark about the clubs.
Secret curricula
Last month, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that teachers can withhold information from parents about what their children are being taught in the classroom. Carol Beth Litkouhi has been trying to obtain information from a Rochester public school about a course being offered called “A History of Ethnic and Gender Studies.” The school has refused, arguing that teaching materials developed by teachers are private and therefore not subject to FOIA law.
Secret identities
In July, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that allows schools to hide information about students’ gender identities from their parents. School employees will no longer be required to tell a child’s parents if he or she identifies as “LGBTQ+,” according to the new law, and schools are forbidden from taking action against an employee who keeps that information from a child’s parents.
The bill claims that “[p]arents and families across California understand that coming out as LGBTQ+ is an extremely personal decision and want to support their children in coming out to them on their own terms.”
“LGBTQ+ pupils have the right to express themselves freely at school without fear, punishment, or retaliation, including that teachers or administrators might ‘out’ them without their permission. Policies that require outing pupils without their consent violate pupils’ rights to privacy and self-determination.”
