Illinois legislators passed a bill Friday that would require K-12 public schools in the state that offer sex education to align their curriculum with the National Sex Education Standards (NSES), the creation of organizations that advocate for sex-ed consistent with abortion rights and LGBTQ inclusion.
If Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signs the bill into law, Illinois will be the first state to align its sex-ed standards with NSES.
Republican lawmakers and some Democrats objected to the explicit content in the standards that would be taught, even to children in elementary and middle school.
“The goal of sex education is to help young people grow into healthier sexual relationships and healthier adults,” said state Rep. Tony McCombie (R), according to NPR. “[The bill] is not age appropriate, it is sexually charged.”
Abortion and LGBTQ activists celebrated the passage of the bill, claiming the type of sex-ed information they condone will help to bring about an end to “bullying, stigmatization, harassment, violence and discrimination,” and even prevent children who feel different from becoming “suicidal.”
The advocates for the NSES said the standards will provide children with “medically accurate and age-appropriate” education, even as the standards state that between grades K-2 children should learn to “define gender, gender identity, and gender role stereotypes.”
Between grades 3-5, the standards say children should learn to “distinguish between sex assigned at birth and gender identity,” “define and explain differences between cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender identity,” and “explain that gender expression and gender identity exist along a spectrum.”
Also between grades 3-5, children are required to learn “the potential role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender.”
Creators of the standards also boast they have been updated to include:
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Continual evolution in language related to gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and sexual identity;
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Inclusion of power and privilege, conscious and unconscious bias, intersectionality, and covert and overt discrimination, and the principles of reproductive justice, racial justice, social justice, and equity
The NSES were developed by Advocates for Youth, Answer, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
Since 2015, SIECUS has partnered with abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood and LGBTQ activist groups such as GLSEN and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to lead comprehensive sex-ed programs in schools throughout the country:
“Endorsing organizations” of the NSES include Gender Spectrum, GLSEN, and the Human Rights Campaign, and abortion rights proponent Sister Song: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
The Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act (SB0818) passed the state House by a vote of 60-48, and the Senate, on May 20, by a vote of 37-18.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois Action thanked the General Assembly for approving the legislation in a statement:
By developing standards to require inclusive, evidence-based curricula that includes information about healthy relationships, gender identity and sexual orientation, Illinois schools can reduce bullying, stigmatization, harassment, violence and discrimination for all students.
However, Monica Cline, a previous Planned Parenthood sex-ed instructor who became founder and director of It Takes A Family, said in a comment to Breitbart News:
By looking at the standards and resources the National Sex Education Standards provide, states who encourage adoption of this content are advocating for the abuse of our children by exposing our kids to obscene sexual notions and inappropriate ideas for their age. Put simply, they are enticing and grooming our children for sexual activity.
As NPR reported, openly gay state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) promoted the adoption of the LGBTQ curriculum, arguing the standards would help to prevent children from feeling ostracized and suicidal.
“For far too long, LGBTQ youth were either invisible or expressly stigmatized, and I remember that — it burned into my soul,” Cassidy said. “As a kid who didn’t understand why I didn’t fit in, who couldn’t define why I felt different, and whose parents were not an option to go to. I wish I had had a teacher I could turn to; I wish I had had a curriculum that didn’t call me unnatural.”
Illinois Rep. Fred Crespo (D) expressed concern that no other state had signed onto the NSES standards.
Additionally, he said, “The thing that bothers me the most is that, I know it’s permissive, but we’re telling schools that if you don’t use these standards you cannot teach sex ed.”
“That concerns me a bit because I think we do need sex ed at our schools,” he added.
Illinois Family Institute referred to the legislation as “the newest manifestation of the creepy desire of Springfield leftists to normalize deviance in children.”
The ministry that promotes traditional marriage and family values also noted:
When seeking to indoctrinate children with leftist sexuality dogma, leftists blather on about “age-appropriateness” and “cultural-appropriateness” as if those terms describe some objective, transcendent, universal criteria rather than socially constructed and imposed leftist “standards.” Both terms are used to include ideas leftists love and exclude (i.e., censor) all ideas leftists hate.
If Pritzker signs the bill into law, parents may still opt their children out of sex-ed classes.