Teacher suspended after giving students educational LGBT leaflets

A New York teacher has reportedly been suspended after handing out education leaflets about the LGBT+ community.

Parents complained about the teacher, who gave out leaflets on sexuality and gender identity to students aged 12 to 16 during health class, after the school held two days of presentations from the Pride Centre of the Capital Region.

According to The Post Star, the New York-based LGBT community centre also provided the leaflets which included a glossary educating students on LGBT terms such as ‘Ally’, ‘Coming Out’ and ‘Gender Identity’.

Soon after the leaflets were given out, a father of a student shared a Facebook Live video in which he called the leaflets “state funded porn” and saying: “I have no problem with the school talking about diversity.

“Gay kids are out there, and the kids need to know about it. But the problem I have is that it went so in-depth. That’s too much for 11 and 12-year-olds.”

“This is stuff that our kids don’t need to be learning in school. We have pages upon pages of this crap that our kids are learning, that they’re being taught. They’re desensitising all of our kids and it’s ruining America.”

The video was shared by anti-LGBT groups and the school board soon received dozens of complaints. They sided with angry parents and confirmed that the teacher had been suspended this week.

Superintendent Vince Canini agreed with the parents’ complaints, saying: “The parents have concerns, and they are mine as well.”

Martha Harvey, the CEO of Pride Centre of the Capital Region, states they’ve been providing schools with the presentations for 12 years, and isn’t aware of any previous objections. She also stated that the information provided in the leaflets can “save lives.”

“If you love your kids, then you want them to have the most information possible. If a parent has a problem with this presentation, that’s the parent’s problem.”

In This Article: