Academia's gender ideology comes to K-12 curriculum

On Jan. 11, the Carroll County School Board in Maryland voted to opt out of the state’s public education framework on “gender identity and expression” and “sexual orientation and identity” in its curriculum. Senator Clarence Lam, however, is working to have the framework passed by the Maryland General Assembly as statute to force the county curriculum to change. 

The curricular standards require children as young as kindergarten to ”[r]ecognize a range of ways people identify and express their gender” and for fourth graders to ”[i]dentify sexual orientation as a person’s physical and/or romantic attraction to an individual of the same and/or different gender,” among other gender ideology-related material.

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The decision to attempt to force the curriculum on Carroll County came after county parents and other residents opposed the standards in an April, 2022 meeting, with some complaining they were “troubled and disturbed” by the sex-ed curriculum guidelines that in their view would be “robbing [children] of their innocence.” 

The Carroll County board decision means pre-kindergarteners will not be taught about same-sex parent families, curricula at the elementary level will not include gender expression and sexual orientation, and for middle schoolers, topics of gender identity and sexual identity will not be introduced.

New Jersey Professor Eva Goldfarb of Montclair State University, in support of the Maryland state standards, claims the policies are “developmentally and age appropriate.”

Political changes in public K-12 education go beyond sex education. Deceased children’s author Roald Dahl is now having his books rewritten for public schools, replacing words like “fat” and making other politically correct edits. 

The war over gender ideology in K-12 follows in the wake of similar controversies in higher ed, where ideas like the deconstruction of sex and gender originally percolated. In September, for example, University of Southern Maine Professor Christy Hammer had students walkout of her class for saying there are only two biological sexes. 

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The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter of the University of Central Florida hosted “safe sex week” in April of last year, providing information about “BDSM etiquette,” “fat positivity,” and “eating a**.” 

And just last month, using mandatory student fees, Ohio State University hosted “Sex Week” highlighting pornography, polygamy, sex toys, abortion, and bondage, as well as distributing free Plan B contraceptives. 

Campus Reform contacted all organizations involved. This article will be updated accordingly.