Teachers, Parents, and Teenagers Oppose Gender Ideology in Schools

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the nation’s largest teachers’ unions support teaching gender ideology in schools, a recent Pew Research Center report reveals more than two-thirds of teachers, parents, and teenage students state that gender identity or “gender fluidity” should not be taught in schools. In addition, many teachers and parents say the choice to opt-out of this instruction should be available.

Pew Research Center surveyed more than 2,500 K-12 public school teachers in late 2023 and found that 50 percent of those teachers said schools should not teach children about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). An additional 14 percent of the teachers said schools should teach students that gender is determined by sex assigned at birth. Only one-third of the teachers agreed with the unions that schools should teach that a person’s “gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth.”

Parents and teenage students were largely in agreement. In separate Pew Research Center surveys in the Fall of 2022 and 2023 respectively, a combined 68 percent of parents and a combined 64 percent of teenagers said SOGI should not be taught in schools or students should learn that gender is determined at birth. Only 31 percent of parents and 25 percent of teenagers said gender ideology belonged in the classroom.

Across the multiple surveys, support for parents having the choice to opt their children out of SOGI “instruction” outweighed the view that these classes should be mandatory. For instance, 54 percent parents and 48 percent of teachers say parents should be able to keep their children away from gender ideology ideas and doctrines. Only 31 percent of adults and 33 percent of teachers say SOGI should be compulsory in schools.

The poll results show a disparity between the views of teachers, parents, and students and the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which have a combined 4.5 million members. Both unions provide teachers with training materials to inject gender identity politics in the classroom. The NEA produces the SOGI-focused LGBTA+ training series and recently released its pronoun guide, which includes “Ze, Zim, Zir, Zay or Zee.” It also encourages teachers to “inspire” their students with a list of “gender affirming” books. The AFT has adopted a resolution supporting access for biological men to female facilities and offered sessions on “affirming LGBTQIA+ identities” at its Together Educating America’s Children (TEACH) conference.

Yet, the Pew Research Center survey shows that 41 percent of teachers say gender identity debates have had a negative impact on their ability to do their jobs. In contrast, only four percent of teachers said these debates were positive. The study indicated that SOGI topics were most likely to come up in and affect social studies and English classes, but the study did not explore what the negative impact on teachers entailed.

However, a 2021 survey by the Education Week Research Center found out why many teachers are hesitant to teach on gender ideology topics. In the survey, teachers stated they feared parental pushback knowing it was the “number one topic” they believed parents did not want taught in the classroom. Teachers also noted a shortage of curriculum options, lack of training on the subject, and not wanting to get something wrong as other reasons for their hesitation.

According to a 2017 paper published in the Perspectives on Urban Education journal at Penn State University, the risks associated with SOGI topics in classroom discussions can include “offensive outbursts, fits of laughter, or withdrawn discomfort” from students where these topics “can either be a small speed bump in the lesson or completely derail the class.”

Teachers who refuse to support gender ideology in the classroom are also having to deal with the negative impact in legal cases across the country. In Virginia, French teacher Peter Vlaming was fired for declining to refer to one of his female students by male pronouns as school policy dictated. Vlaming claims the policy violates his free speech and free exercise of religion rights and the state’s supreme court ruled his lawsuit can move forward. In California, two Christian teachers won a challenge that blocked a San Diego County school district’s policy which had required them to lie to parents and hide students’ gender confusion. And in Maryland, three families have filed suit against Montgomery County for no longer allowing parents to opt-out of LGBTQ-related instruction which was publicly protested in June 2023 by more 1,000 parents.

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According to a report from the Defense of Freedom Institute, the teachers’ unions are not concerned with the rights of teachers who oppose their “radical politics.”

“Both teacher unions ignore the reality that most teachers want to teach, not affirm a student’s gender identity, either due to their personal values or their beliefs that doing so oversteps their authority and encroaches on the role of parents,” said the Defense of Freedom Institute.

Additional findings from Pew Research Center included:

• 71 percent of teachers said teachers themselves don’t have enough influence over their school’s curriculum.
• 58 percent of teachers said the government has too much influence over the curriculum.
• 33 percent of teenage students feel uncomfortable when SOGI topics come up in class while 29 percent said they felt comfortable.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Gender ideology fiction should not be taught to our children. This data confirms that the majority of teachers, parents, and students agree this has no place in public education.”

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