The Fairfax County Public School Board voted June 14 to
amend its Family Life Education Curriculum, changing ‘biological sex’ to ‘sex
assigned at birth’, among other
changes. During the public comment period in the days leading up to the vote,
an overwhelming majority of the 1,300 people who submitted comments wrote that
they disapproved of the changes.
The board rejected a change that would have removed the clergy from a list of trusted adults.
“While I am pleased that the Fairfax County School Board has
voted to retain clergy among the list of people our youth ought to consider
trusted adults, I am nevertheless disappointed to see the Board has chosen
ideology over biology in introducing such terms as ‘sex assigned at birth’ in
place of ‘biological sex’ in the schools’ Family Life Education (FLE)
curriculum," said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge.
"It is also distressing to see students receiving information
about the drug regimen PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis) while at the same
time not learning that abstinence is the only 100% effective way of preventing
the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). As a
community committed to proclaiming the truth about human life, dignity and
sexuality, the Catholic Church in the Diocese
of Arlington will continue its efforts to educate the public regarding the
content of the FLE curriculum and encourage parents to exercise their God-given
right to ‘opt-out’ their children from those lessons that distort the truth and
are morally offensive,” he said.
“I think it's incredibly sad to ignore parents and the
community to move forward to adopt false and ideologically driven content,”
said School Board Member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield), a parishioner of St.
Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton. “It undermines the right of citizens to a
transparent government. With the number of comments received, clearly your
community is telling you — do not do this, you have not engaged us, you are not
representing our voice.”
The meeting at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church
was filled with supporters of the changes wearing pink and purple, and the opposition
— including many local Catholics — wearing green. Representatives from both
sides spoke to the school board before the vote.
The new curriculum will not list any of the negative side
effects of contraception or of gender transitioning. Students will not be taught
that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent sexually transmitted
diseases and infections.
The Fairfax County Public School system is the 10th largest
school division in the country with 198 schools and centers and more than
188,000 students. Many smaller districts around the country often emulate its
policies, said Schultz.
“You have a rogue school board that is going to do what it’s
going to do regardless of the number of comments received,” said Schultz. “They’ve
reached this edge of the envelope, but they are not finished.”
Learn more about the changes here.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that one of the proposed changes was approved; it was rejected.