Arizona State Representative John Kavanagh answered concerned parents’ prayers on Tuesday when he introduced a bill that closes a loophole that school districts have found in the state law that requires parental approval before students receive sex education.
According to Kavanagh, the schools “have taken LGBTQ+ politics out of the classroom and into the clubs to circumvent the law. My bill will require that parents consent to their child joining any kind of gender sexuality, or gender identity club before the students can join and the school will also have to send parents information about the club’s bylaws, rules, goals, and purposes.”
Kavanagh’s bill, HB2011, specifically “prohibits a school district from allowing any student to participate in any school student group or club involving sexuality, gender or gender identity unless the student’s parent provides written permission for the student to participate in the student group or club.”
HB2011 also requires districts to “allow parents to review the formational documents, as defined in section 15-113, of any school student group or club involving sexuality, gender or gender identity.”
A.R.S. 15-113 outlines the rights of parents to review learning materials and activities in advance and provides that any “parent who objects to any learning material or activity on the basis that the material or activity is harmful may request to withdraw that parent’s student from the activity or from the class or program in which the material is used and request an alternative assignment.”
“School districts should be serving the needs of parents and students and not replacing parental judgment with their own ideologies,” Kavanagh told the Arizona Daily Independent.
Parents in the Scottsdale Unified School District grew concerned about the divisions and hurt feelings created by Cocopah Middle School’s GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliances) Club. After Cocopah Middle School received the Sean Nonnenmacher GSA of the Year Award, those divisions came into sharper focus.
One student, who will not be identified due to concerns for retaliation, explained her experience with the Club:
“When I started Cocopah Middle School, I wanted to fit in with other kids. Everyone else already had their friend groups back from elementary school, so I couldn’t find a place where I belonged. But every day on the announcements I would hear about the LGBTQ+ community and that they would “hang out and play games together!” and that’s all I wanted to hear. I got sucked into the community aspect and feeling like I could belong somewhere, but I started to change who I was while in this community. I started to question my “sexuality” and started to think I was bisexual, when before I went to that school I was so boy crazy! I really think there should be other clubs at the school because I had to change who I was and what I believed in just to feel loved by others.”
GLSEN’s Critical Race Theory- based Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program creates division by placing children in either “oppressor” or “oppressed” categories. In the case of Cocopah, Principal Nick Noonan required all teaching staff to partake in professional development provided by GLSEN regarding creating “Safer Spaces at School.”
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“I commend Rep. Kavanaugh on his bill requiring parental permission for participation and requiring schools to provide information – bylaws, rules, etc. – about school groups or clubs involving sexuality, gender or sexual identity,” said former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas. “There is no reason that this should apply solely to Gender and Sexuality Alliances or clubs. This should apply to all school clubs and activities. Parents and taxpayers are entitled to full disclosure of anything and everything schools/districts put before our children. Such information can easily and should be made readily available on the school’s website.”
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