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Gender Ideology as State Education Policy. Backgrounder No. 3879

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Title: Gender Ideology as State Education Policy. Backgrounder No. 3879
Language: English
Authors: Daniel Buck, Jay W. Richards, Heritage Foundation
Source: Heritage Foundation. 2024.
Availability: Heritage Foundation. 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002-4999. Tel: 202-546-4400; Fax: 202-546-8328; e-mail: info@heritage.org; Web site: http://www.heritage.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 16
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Descriptors: State Policy, Gender Issues, Ideology, LGBTQ People, Public Schools, Elementary Secondary Education, Controversial Issues (Course Content), Geographic Location, Health Education, Gender Identity
Abstract: The fruits of gender ideology seem to spring up almost everywhere. It seems routine when a conservative journalist uncovers yet another banner celebrating "Young Trans Joy" on school grounds. It is all too easy to find footage online of a school district hosting a drag queen event or of a rainbow-spangled teacher explaining how he, she, or "they" treat the teacher lectern as a pulpit for indoctrinating children with radical ideology. When parents complain about pornographic books and materials in school libraries and classrooms, the media uniformly attack them as puritanical book banners. Of course, even if a social media account, such as Libs of TikTok, profiled an activist teacher every day since the onset of the pandemic that would total just a thousand teachers--compared to America's 3 million teachers. So, are these stories representative, or are they outliers? That is the question this "Backgrounder" seeks to answer. The authors scanned state-level policies in public K-12 education to see how many state health education frameworks and standards explicitly teach and endorse the concepts of gender ideology. The results are deeply troubling. Gender ideologues encourage children to dissociate their identities from their bodies--to entertain the thought that they "might be born in the wrong body." This is a falsehood akin to claiming that two plus two may or may not equal five. Gender ideologues often target children--to judge from the countless picture books, drag queen story hours, and curricular materials that have flooded the market in recent years. As a result, this "Backgrounder" includes the introduction of controversial sexual topics at inappropriate ages as evidence of gender ideology. The authors found 16 states that explicitly compel teachers to inculcate this ideology in students. Because several of these are populous states, such as California and New York, that amounts to roughly 37 percent3 of American students. And this is surely a lower bound. News stories and surveys reveal even more teachers, schools, and districts cover these concepts--and not just in blue states. Diagnoses of gender dysphoria in minors have exploded in the U.S. in the past decade and a half, and no state is immune. [This report was produced by the Richard and Helen Devos Center for Life, Religion, and Family within the Heritage Foundation.]
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: ED677206
Database: ERIC
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  Data: The fruits of gender ideology seem to spring up almost everywhere. It seems routine when a conservative journalist uncovers yet another banner celebrating "Young Trans Joy" on school grounds. It is all too easy to find footage online of a school district hosting a drag queen event or of a rainbow-spangled teacher explaining how he, she, or "they" treat the teacher lectern as a pulpit for indoctrinating children with radical ideology. When parents complain about pornographic books and materials in school libraries and classrooms, the media uniformly attack them as puritanical book banners. Of course, even if a social media account, such as Libs of TikTok, profiled an activist teacher every day since the onset of the pandemic that would total just a thousand teachers--compared to America's 3 million teachers. So, are these stories representative, or are they outliers? That is the question this "Backgrounder" seeks to answer. The authors scanned state-level policies in public K-12 education to see how many state health education frameworks and standards explicitly teach and endorse the concepts of gender ideology. The results are deeply troubling. Gender ideologues encourage children to dissociate their identities from their bodies--to entertain the thought that they "might be born in the wrong body." This is a falsehood akin to claiming that two plus two may or may not equal five. Gender ideologues often target children--to judge from the countless picture books, drag queen story hours, and curricular materials that have flooded the market in recent years. As a result, this "Backgrounder" includes the introduction of controversial sexual topics at inappropriate ages as evidence of gender ideology. The authors found 16 states that explicitly compel teachers to inculcate this ideology in students. Because several of these are populous states, such as California and New York, that amounts to roughly 37 percent3 of American students. And this is surely a lower bound. News stories and surveys reveal even more teachers, schools, and districts cover these concepts--and not just in blue states. Diagnoses of gender dysphoria in minors have exploded in the U.S. in the past decade and a half, and no state is immune. [This report was produced by the Richard and Helen Devos Center for Life, Religion, and Family within the Heritage Foundation.]
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: State Policy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gender Issues
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ideology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: LGBTQ People
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Public Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary Secondary Education
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      – SubjectFull: Controversial Issues (Course Content)
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      – SubjectFull: Geographic Location
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      – SubjectFull: Health Education
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      – SubjectFull: Gender Identity
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      – TitleFull: Gender Ideology as State Education Policy. Backgrounder No. 3879
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