Youtube / Laurenzo
Parents in one Maryland community are reeling after what some say is yet another example of taxpayer-funded schools pushing ideology over education. Sixth graders at Westland Middle School in Bethesda were ushered into Transgender Awareness Week through a glossy 12-slide presentation—complete with videos like “Advice for Coming Out” and “8 Tips for Being Nonbinary”—all delivered to children as young as eleven, according to a report by Fox News Digital.
One of the first slides hits students with the declaration that “A person’s gender is who they feel that they are,” followed by the claim that “It is important to understand the difference between sex and gender so that we can better understand ourselves.” The slickly produced video came from Pop’n’Olly, an LGBT activist content creator that markets educational materials directly to schools.
Soon after, the kids were quizzed—yes, quizzed—on “what it means” to be transgender. In another activity, students were instructed to turn to their neighbors and ponder questions like, “How do people know if they are a ‘girl’ or ‘boy?’” Another classroom brain-teaser: “The first thing people announce about their new baby is the gender, why do you think that is?”
For 6th graders who haven’t even begun algebra, that’s a lot of social engineering before lunch.
Then came the attention-grabbing videos. Students were shown “Advice for Coming Out,” followed by “8 Tips for Being Nonbinary,” where a social media influencer named Laurenzo lectures kids on what to do if someone “misgenders” them and how to find the right personal “label.” Laurenzo even gives minors a how-to on chest binding—the physical practice of compressing the breasts to appear less feminine.
If you thought middle-school health class was going to stay focused on, say, nutrition or basic puberty facts, think again.
The final slide of the school’s presentation invites students to attend Westland’s LGBTQ+ club, SAGA—short for “Sexuality and Gender Acceptance”—just in case the 12 slides and identity tutorials weren’t enough.
Conservative education advocates are fired up. Erika Sanzi of Defending Education minced no words, telling Fox News Digital, “There isn’t a single justification for this cult-like propaganda being pushed on children at school.” She warned that schools are “presenting a harmful ideology as gospel to other people’s children and manipulating language in ways that would almost be funny if it didn’t come with so much risk.”
Sanzi issued a stark warning: “These are 11- and 12-year-olds and nothing about this is remotely appropriate or defensible.”
Predictably, Montgomery County Public Schools defended the content. A spokesperson insisted the district has a responsibility to make sure “every student feels safe, seen, and respected at school.” The district pointed to its advisory lessons as tools to help students “treat each other with kindness,” and claimed that parents were given information about opt-out procedures.
According to MCPS, “The lessons were about awareness, respect, and how to support peers in a school community that includes students of many backgrounds and lived experiences.” The spokesperson doubled down, saying schools must reinforce that “bullying, harassment, and discrimination have no place in our buildings.”
Critics argue that what MCPS calls “awareness,” many parents see as indoctrination—and that pushing identity politics onto preteens, complete with tutorials on binding and gender labels, crosses a line.
