Editor,
Last month, the governor signed ESSB 5395, the state-mandated, K-12 comprehensive sexual health education bill. Comprehensive Sexuality Education teaches more than the “birds and the bees.” It trains children to seek sexual pleasure at all ages — based on sexologist Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s philosophy and fraudulent research — and promotes the sexual orientation and gender identity world view.
These ideas contradict the beliefs of many communities in our state. Before this bill was passed, school districts had a choice whether or not to teach comprehensive sex ed and could meet the needs of their communities.
Now, however the state has done the following:
• Mandated graphic sex education starting in elementary school.
• Ordered school districts to “comprehensively” include sex ed in all curriculum — including math, social studies, science, business, and computer classes. Thus, even children who are opted out of the sex-ed class still get exposed to the ideas.
• Denied parents and local school boards the power to decide what shall be taught. Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats will enforce the use of a comprehensive sex ed curriculum in every public school in the state.
Parents, grandparents, and fellow citizens have a responsibility to protect our children from the inappropriate, ideology-based curriculum. This bill was passed late in the session with little opportunity for ordinary citizens to testify and no amendments were accepted.
Parents and their local school boards deserve a voice in controversial curriculum decisions. And many school districts cannot afford an expensive, unfunded mandate.
Please join Parents for Safe Schools, parentsforsafeschools.com, and give citizens a voice. Please sign petition R90 by June 1.
Order petitions from the website. Due to the quarantine, it’s OK to turn in a petition with only a few signatures. Share with family or friends if you can.
Let the people choose on Nov. 3, 2020, not OSPI bureaucrats, what children should be taught in schools.
Lorinda Newton
Clinton
