(The Lion) — The San Francisco Unified School District is facing backlash for creating a sexually and politically charged holiday “survival guide” for LGBTQ students.
The “Out of School Survival Guide”, posted on SFUSD’s website Dec. 14, lists and links to a variety of pro-LGBTQ groups and seems to implicitly support running away from home; sex changes; fringe sexual practices; and illegal immigration.
“School breaks can be especially challenging as holidays and celebrations sometimes bring youth in contact with unaffirming community members,” SFUSD writes. “LGBTQ Student Services team recommends the below resources to help LGBTQ+ students and families think through how to best practice self-care and safety during this time.”
The guide includes phone numbers and chatlines for LGBTQ, trans and queer youth, a health clinic that offers “gender affirming” care, a runaway hotline and LGBTQ community centers.
It also links to a website about LGBTQ students’ rights at school, including the right to:
- be called by the name and pronouns that match their gender identity
- wear clothing that corresponds with their gender identity
- participate in school sports and use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity
- receive “unbiased and LGBTQ+- inclusive instruction”
Another link addresses “Immigrant Youth Rights,” directing students to not speak to ICE agents, not open the door to ICE agents and not say anything about where they were born or how they entered the United States.
On its second page, the survival guide encourages students to “read books that affirm your identities” and have “affirming clothes.”
In the relationship section, it directs youth to a website called “Scarleteen” which describes itself as “queer sex ed for all.” Scarleteen’s topics include masturbation, orgasm, BDSM, rape, abortion, pornography and other explicit sex acts.
Some of its articles include titles such as, “F***ing First Aid: A Quick Guide to Common Sex Injuries” and “Breathe: Risks, Realities, and Safer Alternatives to Choking and Breath Play.”
Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, blasted the implicit assumption behind the survival guide that LGBTQ students were not safe with their families.
“I think first is just the framing that this is kind of assuming that families are going to be hostile to children’s gender identity, period, which is not the case in most of the country and certainly not in San Francisco,” Neily told The National Desk.
“To really start to throw up those artificial barriers and imply, ‘Your parents might not love you if –’ and that there are conditions on a parent’s love, this is something that will last far beyond a child graduating from high school.”
