Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to Liberty Public Schools seeking any guidance from the school district regarding transgender issues. The district explained that GLSEN’s Safe Space Kit was “provided to district staff” and provided PDE with the document. This Safe Space Kit is a guide for educators to promote gender ideology to students while at school. GLSEN states in the document that staff should participate in “dismantling internalized homophobia and transphobia.”
The document explains that staff who are “cisgender” may experience “cis-privilege.” Staff are also encouraged to “display LGBTQ supportive materials” and to teach gender ideology in classrooms. Teachers are additionally told to use the term “partner” instead of “boyfriend/girlfriend” or “husband/wife” to be inclusive.
GLSEN also encourages staff to keep the gender identity of students hidden from parents in this document. The organization states that contacting parents could be dangerous: “Although it may be hard to believe, there are students whose emotional and physical safety were jeopardized when school staff outed them to other students and even family members.” GLSEN then states to “assure and respect confidentiality” and to “validate the person’s gender identity and expression.”
One section of the document is solely teaching staff to “make your curriculum LGBTQ inclusive.” Staff are told to “include LGBTQ history,” “use LGBTQ-inclusive literature,” and “celebrate LGBTQ events.” GLSEN also advocates for “gender-neutral alternatives” to titles such as king and queen of proms and homecoming events.
The organization GLSEN is known for promoting LGBTQ issues to young children. GLSEN states on its website that “while many LGBTQ+-inclusive school supports begin in middle or high school, it is critical for elementary schools to establish a foundation of respect and understanding for all people.” The organization has also appeared to show support for children taking “hormone replacement therapy” to transition to another gender:
Upon birth, we are typically categorized into one of two genders (boy or girl) depending on how our genitals are read. Throughout our lives, however, our many bodily characteristics work together to create a unique path of development, causing some of us to grow really tall, and others to remain short, or some of us to grow hair under our armpits and legs, while others remain bare. While this development often happens on its own during puberty, this change can also be administered through medicine, such as hormone replacement therapy. Since our society often conflates our bodies (or genitalia) with our gender identity, it is critical that we allow space for people to self-identify.
