When a small group of parents exposed the fact that a Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board member was part of an effort to gather personal information about them and their families, a pall settled over the community. The usually vocal and engaged stakeholders saw clearly what they were up against and to what extent the District’s progressive leadership and the powerful groups behind them would go to thwart dissent.
So, it came as little surprise to the parents when the District’s Superintendent, Scott Menzel, doubled down on the District’s support for GLSEN, a group that uses its financial heft and a small band of rabid true-believers to ensure students’ access to gender-bending indoctrination in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What did surprise parents, however, was how effective that pall has been to intimidate parents and other stakeholders. The notion that a perfect stranger and his son, who they trusted with their kids’ education, would collect pictures of their beloved children, personal finance information, and make it accessible to anyone with the proper URL, even took a toll on what had been a very promising recall effort.
The recall effort ended on Friday after it became apparent to organizers that the community was too afraid to out their names on a petition for fear of retaliation.
A crisis too good to waste
It is frequently said that one should never let a good crisis go to waste and that appears to be exactly what the District’s leadership has done. Recent community statements from GLSEN and the District confirm that the two groups are now in lockstep with their intent to push unapologetically for adoption of GLSEN’s sexualized programming of minor children.
GLSEN promotes itself as a champion of vulnerable LGBTQ+ children to hide their real agenda of re-framing the gender binary as a white-supremist concept, recruiting activists for the abolition of the police including the removal of security resources from schools, normalizing gender selection for children as young as 8, and training teachers to advocate for the destruction of the nuclear family. The ultimate goal is adoption of Comprehensive Sex Education, which would require Kindergartners to learn about gender identity and third graders to learn about the use of hormone blockers and masturbation.
How do any of these radical concepts relate to the support of sexually confused minors? Answer: They don’t. In reality, GLSEN is exploiting the vulnerability of true LGBTQ+ youth and contributing to the sexual confusion of other minors. You read that correctly, GLSEN is making it worse for all children.
Consider the following from the Gender Resource Guide:
- “One study showed that when a teen announces a transgender identity to their peer group, the number of friends who also became transgender-identified was 3.5 per group.”
- “Up to 98% of children who struggle with their sex as a boy or a girl, come to accept their sex by adulthood.”
- “After sex reassignment surgery, transgender identified people are nearly 20 times more likely to die from suicide than the general population.”
- “Studies show that 100% of children who use puberty blockers will go on to use cross-sex hormones, leaving them permanently sterile.”
- “A number of factors are contributing to the increasing number of children and teens who are struggling to accept their sex. The evidence suggests that transgender identities are heavily influenced by social contagion, mental health issues, popular culture, and current trends in medical treatment.”
- “In just seven years, there has been a nearly 2,000% increase in children seeking treatment for sexual identity confusion in the United Kingdom.” “… and that the number of girls referred in particular is higher than ever.”
Many experts believe that kids are being recruited into a conceptual lifestyle that is not aligned with who they really are. GLSEN’s sexualized programming holds that allowing grade schoolers to select their gender is kind, reaffirming and inclusive, thus empowering teachers and school administrators to bully parents into supporting gender confusion as a social norm and labeling parents who don’t fall in line as anti-LBGTQ+. But many parents are waking up and see GLSEN’s tactics for what they are: the sexual indoctrination of children. Just like events being exposed in California’s schools, video recordings and email communications with Scottsdale teachers reveal that GSA club recruitment is happening right here in Arizona as well.
The idea that applying pronouns can solve the extraordinarily complex dilemma a child must face if they are truly conflicted with their actual sex is preposterous. Children with genuine gender dysphoria need real help and the support of their family; not an activist group with a radical agenda to demonize the gender binary and weaken family bonds.
GLSEN has seeped into Arizona schools and the lives of many Arizona families through a two-sided approach to indoctrination: 1) convince teachers to sneak curriculum into classrooms and 2) help children hide their new identities from parents. Thus, GLSEN’s sexualized programming serves to drive a wedge between parents and minors, inserting instead teachers and educational institutions as the child’s perceived “trusted” caregivers. Critics say GLSEN-friendly school districts like Scottsdale are accelerating this harmful indoctrination of children.
What’s next for GLSEN?
They have their sights set on school sports. At the GLSEN Back2School Virtual Summit, Dr. Madeline Adelman, professor of justice and social inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at ASU and a founder and board member of GLSEN Phoenix, introduced a project to provide legislators with “ammunition” to fight back against anti-trans (sports) legislation during the coming legislative session. Dr. Adelman’s project aims to create emotional stories, paying for minors to participate. GLSEN Phoenix has agreed to circulate information about the project.
Arizona statute 15-711 states that parents must have the opportunity to review and opt-in students for sex education instruction. Yet the District is skirting this requirement by hosting sexual-themed events it claims are tied to “student-led” clubs that are generally named Gender Sexuality Alliances or Gay Straight Alliances (GSA).
Emails received through a public records request show that Cocopah Middle School celebrated GLSEN Day of Silence without notice to parents, yet several emails were sent between teachers and staff to plan the event, even going so far as to coordinate the approval of LGBTQ+ videos for morning announcements. A school-wide notice was also sent to all students about the pre-planned event. When questioned about the lack of notification to parents, Cocopah administration claimed it was a simple oversight.
Parents question how it is possible that a Cocopah teacher and its principal had time to preview and approve a video for school-wide morning announcements, but not to inform parents of an event promoting a sexualized lifestyle to 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds.
Principals from other Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) middle schools weighed in on their excitement and support for Cocopah’s GLSEN award:
The school announcement to students about the GLSEN Day of Silence states: “This is not something you’re required to do, it’s strictly voluntary, but we’d like as many of you who will to participate …“
In response to parent outrage about GLSEN’s controversial agenda, the Scottsdale District has labeled parents as bullies in an attempt to gaslight the community and has worked to cover-up internal communications. When one parent asked to review a list of available clubs at Cocopah Middle School, she was denied information. Information about school clubs is also not available on SUSD’s website. Others received notices that their public records requests for SUSD communications – all seeking information about SUSD-sponsored Genders Sexuality Alliance clubs – were denied and closed.
The District’s attorney, Lori Bird, wrote to requestors: “The release of such documents would invade the personal privacy rights of an individual.” Note that this claim of “personal” privacy is being made after the Cocopah Middle School’s GSA teacher made a public video of her acceptance of the GLSEN Glitter Award which she won for secretly allowing students to drop their “deadnames.” (i.e., parent-given names). It’s clear, in the eyes of Scottsdale District administrators, a parent’s mere questions about a GSA club is equal to an “attack” on the LGBTQ+ community.
While Scottsdale Superintendent Dr. Scott Menzel has refused to respond to media inquiries about his SUSD-sponsored GSA clubs or his association with GLSEN; he apparently had plenty of time for GLSEN Phoenix. So much so, that the organization felt compelled to issue a statement highlighting Dr. Menzel’s support. Parents are left to wonder, if GLSEN is the positive program it claims to be, why is the District trying so hard to hide this sexualized programming?
Although GLSEN argues that LGBTQ+ students are harassed and are literally afraid to attend school, the District’s disciplinary data shows only three total incidents of bullying (for any reason) have been recorded for the 2021-2022 school year to date. Three. To add to the hypocrisy, despite proclaimed “fear” of attending school, LGBTQ+ youth are asked to advocate for the removal of the very school security resources that could protect them.
How many children will SUSD and GLSEN harm with their sexualized programming? In the name of “saving” a few students from non-existent “attacks” in Scottsdale schools, Dr. Menzel is sacrificing many.
While Scottsdale academic achievement rates remain shockingly low, the District is prioritizing so-called “diversity, equity and inclusion” over focusing resources on knowledge and skills that would actually help students achieve in a future competitive environment. Parents say it’s no wonder that public school enrollment continues to decline, and with it the school funding that comes with each student.
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