(Op-Ed) Sexuality Education in Elementary School

By Stacy Lignell

Recently a parent of my grandchild's school came and did some sort of presentation on same-sex marriage/relationships. Parents were not asked if they wanted their children to participate in this activity. While my daughter doesn't have a problem with same sex issues, she doesn't want the school teaching it in class. She would rather be the one teaching her own child about the subject.

My daughter went to the teacher and asked her about this presentation. The teacher simply told my daughter that they don’t have to notify parents because "its the law" since same sex marriage has become legal.

My daughter called the school board and asked and the person she talked to was a bit taken back by what my daughter told her, said she would look into it and get back to her. A friend of my daughter has a child in the Alameda Unified School District, but a different school. The friend's child has never been taught about gay/lesbian/transgender issues in that school.

Is it really "the law?" My daughter has not heard back from the school district or principal of the school.

My grandchild is 6. I don’t think that anything that has to do with grown-up issues should be addressed in the classroom until the child is of an age where they can process that information. Now my grandchild seems confused and is now calling things "gay."

If the school is so bent on teaching the kids about same-sex relationships, why isn’t heterosexual relationships in the curriculum as well? I believe schools should focus on the "reading, writing, arithmetic" approach and leave adult situations out of the classrooms. A kid can’t pray in class, why should they be taught about homosexuality/transgender issues when clearly they are too young to be bothered with all that information.

I want this subject brought "out of the closet." I want other parents and grandparents to be able to sound off on their opinion on this issue.

Last year in kindergarten, my grandchild’s vocabulary words for one week consisted of words such as "homosexual, gay, lesbian, transexual, transgender" and so on. They also had a photo presentation on "families" and how some families are different.  

Had there not been a same-sex family in this school, the "need" to teach about it would not have been thought of. We need to wait until they are of age: middle school or high school.

Teaching general tolerance is ALL great... but it needs to be in a "general" sense for younger children.