As part of its ongoing LGBTQ+ Equity study month this April, an Illinois school district has suggested that Pre-K students “identify the colors in the rainbow flag” and “participate in making” their own “rainbow and/or trans pride flag,” according to curriculum materials reviewed by The Daily Wire.
District 65, located in Evanston, Illinois, has dedicated a significant portion of the academic year to “equity weeks.” From September 15 to October 15, it hosted Latinx Heritage Month. In February, District 65 hosted Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action, The Daily Wire reported Wednesday.
The district’s LGBTQ+ Equity Month study unit is currently running for Pre-K to eighth grade. According to curriculum materials posted online, it is appropriate for students in the preschool to learn that some of their friends’ parents might be “non-binary or queer” and to learn about the rainbow flag. The curriculum also has students learn what each color of the flag represents — before drawing their own.
The end of the presentation has students dancing to a “song about rainbow colors,” according to the slides.
“Encourage students & families to participate in our Rainbow day and color days by wearing the color of the day,” a lesson plan states, noting that the Pre-K students were to listen to the book “Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag” by Rob Sanders.
Speaking to The Daily Wire on condition of anonymity, a parent whose spouse works as a teacher in the district said presenting gender-based ideology ought to be the “purview of parents.” The parent said “teaching this to children without parental consent” is not the right thing to do.
A spokesperson for District 65 did not respond to a request for comment.
Gender-based curricula have also been implemented during other equity-focused weeks. During BLM month in February, the district presented slides on being a “Transgender ally” that told special needs kids they may choose to be “a boy or girl or both or neither, or something else” since “no one gets to choose for them,” according to slides reviewed by The Daily Wire
“Everyone has the right to choose who they love and the kind of family they want by listening to their own heart and mind,” one slide states. “Everybody is important, and has the right to be safe and happy. Another way to say that is collective value.”
Following this, teachers were instructed to do a “read aloud” of books that have a social justice bent. One suggested book is “Julián is a Mermaid,” which is about a boy who sees how women are dressed “spectacularly” and goes home to dress “like the ladies.” Another suggested book, “When Aidan Became a Brother,” is about a “trans boy” who learns “how to love with his whole self.”