Without notifying parents, a New Jersey middle school social studies class forced students to watch a video about transgender hormone treatment.
Teachers and administrators at Pearl R. Miller Middle School in Kinnelon, New Jersey, didn’t notify parents about the lesson, which included slideshows showing definitions of different so-called genders, as well as a video endorsing hormone therapy for gender-confused youth.
Upon becoming aware of the social studies lesson about transgenderism, parents of middle schoolers in New Jersey were infuriated.
The video, entitled “Ten Years on Testosterone,” goes into detail regarding 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
The Washington Free Beacon reported on further details of this story:
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 in their report that, upon reaching out, the school’s superintendent refused to comment on the matter.