A New Jersey public middle school forced its students to view a video about transgender hormone treatment as part of a social studies class — all without notifying their parents.
Teachers and administrators at Pearl R. Miller Middle School in Kinnelon, New Jersey, did not notify parents about the lesson, which included slideshows showing definitions of different gender ideologies.
Upon learning about this incident, parents of middle schoolers in New Jersey were angry with the social studies lesson about transgenderism, which included a video endorsing hormone therapy for gender-confused youth.
The video, entitled “Ten Years on Testosterone,” details the transition of LGBT activist Aydian Dowling through hormone injections.
Dowling states in the video after injecting testosterone:
“You can build up the courage to stand up for yourself in a way that this is what you want to do with your life.”
Watch the video here: Aydian Dowling/Youtube
More details of this story from the Washington Free Beacon report:
Dowling later spoke at a school-wide assembly as part of the school’s “Stories Of Adversity & Resilience Program,” about which administrators notified parents ahead of time, giving them the option to opt out their children. Concerned parents flocked to a school board meeting last Thursday, where board members admitted parents should have similarly been informed about the hormone therapy video.
“I felt as if I was blindsided,” Loren Malfitano, whose two sons were shown the video, told the Washington Free Beacon. “They’re learning about this ideology of gender before they even have classes on the actual biologies of males and females.”
The tension over sex education in New Jersey is one of many examples across the country where concerned parents battle public schools over radical gender and sexuality curricula. Florida received national attention in March after the state legislature passed a bill that bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 classrooms.
New Jersey is set to enact updated health standards in September pushed by Democratic governor Phil Murphy that teach second-graders about genitalia, reproduction, and “gender expression.” Fifth-graders will be required to define masturbation and differentiate between sexual orientation and gender identity, and eighth-graders will have to define gender identity, gender expression, vaginal sex, oral sex, and anal sex. The governor-appointed New Jersey Board of Education adopted the standards in 2020.
The Washington Free Beacon also noted that, after reaching out, the school’s superintendent refused to comment on this matter.
