Donated Elementary Books Encourage Children to 'Play' with Their Gender Identity
Dear Parents,
Did you know that your elementary school children are reading books with messages including that you “guessed” their gender and biological sex when they were born, and that their gender is a choice that they can “play” with?
In 2019, the organization Gender Nation donated LGBT books to all three school districts – Burbank Unified, La Canada Unified, and Glendale Unified. Gender Nation states that their mission is to donate books that “...demonstrate the full spectrum of sexuality and gender identity.”
We understand that some parents agree with the goals of organizations like Gender Nation. We have no objection to parents teaching this to their children within their own homes. However, not all parents share these beliefs. We believe that children should not be forcibly exposed to this content without parental knowledge and consent in K-12 publicly funded schools.
Here is a list of the books Gender Nation donated to elementary schools in Burbank Unified School District:
Here is a list of Gender Nation books found in the La Canada Unified School District’s three elementary school libraries:
Here is a list of books donated to elementary schools in Glendale Unified:
The Los Angeles Times reported on this donation in 2019:
It’s interesting to note that the Glendale News-Press, at the time owned by the Los Angeles Times, story also reported that the book George was so heavily checked out at Mountain View Elementary that the library had to buy a second copy. Please see below for the excerpt from the newspaper article:
George is the same book that we have written about in a previous article, which was read aloud in a La Canada Unified 6th grade classroom; the book includes content about pornography, discusses children considering cutting off their genitalia, and describes kids taking off their underwear and trading their underwear with their friends.
We are calling attention to these books, which we believe have been added to the elementary schools as part of a larger effort to normalize gender identity ideology. In the future, we will be doing a series of articles that break down the key messages of these books. Some of the most concerning messages are that children as young as kindergarten are being told in public school that their parents took a guess at a fundamental part of who they are, as is described in Who Are You? The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity by Brook Pessin-Whedbee. The book discusses how parents “guessed” at a child’s gender, and also references that the adults “guessed” about children’s bodies, and then describes biological sex as being “assigned at birth.”
Who Are You? The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity also tells children that instead of being a boy or a girl, they might be “transgender,” “agender,” “third gender,” “neutrois,” or one of many other genders.
Another book is called They She He Me: Free to Be by Maya Gonzalez and Matthew Smith-Gonzalez. This book explicitly tells children to “play” with their pronouns, and encourages children to use pronouns like “ze” and “tree”:
Below are some of the links to read alouds of these books. How do you feel after watching them?
They She He Me: Free to Be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQedEI6LrFA
Who Are You? The Kid’s Guide to Gender Identity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIUIQZ1GAbI
The schools generally state that books like this increase “diversity” of representation of different groups in the libraries, such as representation of the LGBT community. We ask you to keep in mind that the California Dept of Education Health Framework states:
Parents, please note use of the word “will.”
It is our opinion that these schools have already started an effort to encourage and promote exploration of gender identities, as we have written about in the past in Glendale Unified. Contrary to what some may have led you to believe, encouraging exploration of gender identities is not a harmless intervention. These are public schools interfering with the normal development of children’s core identities, and most parents are not even aware that any of this is happening.
Feel welcome to let these schools know your thoughts:
Burbank Unified School District:
Matt Hill: Burbank USD Superintendent <matthill@burbankusd.org>
Charlene Tebet: Burbank USD Board of Education President <CharleneTabet@burbankusd.org>
Armond Aghakanian: Board member <ArmondAghakhanian@burbankusd.org>
Steve Ferguson: Board member <SteveFerguson@burbankusd.org>
Steve Frinter: Board member <SteveFrintner@burbankusd.org>
Emily Weisberg: Board member <EmilyWeisberg@burbankusd.org>
Glendale Unified School District:
Vivian Ekchian: Superintendent of Glendale Schools, <vekchian@gusd.net>
Kelly King, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, <kking@gusd.net>
Greg Krikorian <gkrikorian@gusd.net>
Shant Sahakian <ssahakian@gusd.net>
Jennifer Freemon <jfreemon@gusd.net>
Armina Gharpetian <agharpetian@gusd.net>
Nayiri Nahabedian <nnahabedian@gusd.net>
La Canada Unified School District:
Wendy Sinnette: La Canada Unified District Superintendent, <wsinnette@lcusd.net>
Dan Jeffries: LCUSD Governing Board President <djeffries@lcusd.net>
Caroline Anderson: Board member <canderson@lcusd.net>
Josh Epstein: Board member <jepstein@lcusd.net>
Kaitzer Puglia: Board member <kpuglia@lcusd.net>
Joe Radabaugh: Board member <jradabaugh@lcusd.net>
Feel free to share this article with other parents in your school. If you live in Burbank, Glendale, or La Canada and have documents or testimonials from your child’s schools, please send us information at genderidentityk12@protonmail.com. Your identity will always remain confidential.
Thank you,
The Gender Identity K-12 Team