The Trump administration’s campaign against DEI and gender ideology in education hasn’t slowed down the San Diego Unified School District.
Defending Education, a parental rights group, accused the district of pushing a far-left political agenda and misleading families with its Equity & Belonging hub, a section on SDUSD’s website that includes material saying there are nine genders and 28 “youth sexual orientations.” It also offers a woke curriculum for students starting in the third grade.
“The San Diego Unified School District is committed to creating equitable and inclusive schools that ensure that students have what they need to be successful in school and life,” said the hub in its introductory “equity statement.”
Defending Education called the website an “engine for ideology rather than education.”
“San Diego Unified is just another example of ideological capture in K-12, and while I suspect most parents and staff aren’t even aware of what’s on this page of their website, it has to be interpreted as the official position of the district,” said Erika Sanzi, Defending Education senior director of communications.
“Education is not compatible with a district that believes or even entertains the idea that there are 9 different gender identities and 28 sexual orientations,” she said in a statement shared first with The Washington Times. “This lunacy must end or trust will be lost forever.”
Leading the Equity & Belonging team is Executive Director Ebonee Weathers, with the involvement of the Ethnic Studies Department and the Department of Restorative Justice Practices, as well as resources drawn from leftist groups such as the Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign and Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.
According to the hub, the district is “committed to dismantling systems of oppression and inequity” by promoting concepts such as “equity consciousness,” “social justice” and “restorative justice” for children starting in elementary school.
Then there’s a lesson package called “It’s Lit Jr.”
It’s meant for students in third through sixth grades and contains suggested lessons like “Transgender Children in the Boy Scouts,” an “exploration of Latinx history” and a look at “young, female justice seekers” such as former first lady Michelle Obama.
Are such politically charged lessons too young for third graders? Not according to the district website.
“Name-calling and using anti-gay and anti-trans slurs starts as early as kindergarten, first- and second-grades,” said the FAQ. “At a very young age, children have already been introduced to information about LGBTQIA+ people, which is often based on misinformation and negative stereotypes. When teachers are silent about LGBTQIA+ people, students learn from this omission that it is acceptable to use homophobic and transphobic put-downs.”
Resources include the “LGBTQIA+ Terminology — Student Panel Welcome” slideshow, which lists nine genders, including “demigirl” and “third gender,” and 28 “youth sexual orientations,” such as “aegosexual,” “polysexual” and “sexually fluid abrosexual.”
“San Diego Unified is promoting 28 sexual orientations and nine gender identities, declaring its mission to ‘dismantle systems of oppression and inequity’ and pushing these concepts into the minds of the youngest, most impressionable students,” said Defending Education investigative reporter Kendall Tietz.
The hub has plenty to say about transgender rights and Title IX, not all of which may be legally accurate.
“Title IX is a federal law that makes sex discrimination illegal in most schools,” said the page on “Transgender, Nonbinary & Gender Nonconforming Student Rights.” “Most courts who have looked at the issue have said that this includes discrimination against someone because they are transgender.”
The problem? In January, a federal judge vacated the Biden administration’s rule adding “gender identity” to Title IX in a nationwide ruling, finding that the Department of Education exceeded its authority and violated the First Amendment by compelling opposite-sex names and pronouns.
The SDUSD page also said students “have the right to use restrooms and locker rooms that match your gender identity” and “be called by the names and pronouns that match your identity,” issues now playing out in the courts.
The Washington Times has reached out to the district for comment.
Educators are encouraged to go beyond teaching by crossing the line into LGBTQ activism, as promoted by the website’s “Responding to Resistance” guide.
“Once you do, you’ll recognize that for your small amount of discomfort, you are engaging in allyship in a way that literally saves lives,” the guide said. “Silence can no longer be our default.”
President Trump has moved to pull federal funding for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology” under his End Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling executive order.
Other executive orders target federally funded educational institutions that push discriminatory racial preferences or promote the idea that there are more than two sexes.
“It’s hard to see how these programs and resources don’t run afoul of the Trump administration’s executive orders,” said Ms. Sanzi. “They are steeped in gender ideology.”
San Diego Unified has 121,000 students in preschool through grade 12, making it the second-largest school district in California.
