Teaching Transgenderism and Gay Love Through Christmas Icons – The Epoch Times
A snowman and Santa now add holiday flair to teaching children about gay love and exploring alternative gender identities.
In New Jersey, parents have been complaining to school board officials about transgender policies, including a a “Gender Snowperson” lesson teaching children as young as 3rd grade that their “sex assigned at birth” may not be correct.
Meanwhile, an online school library for New York City students provides the “Santa’s Husband” picture book, describing the loving relationship between the jolly, old elf and his same-sex spouse.
The book also describes a warming North Pole and tensions of labor union negotiations with elves. And an illustration of the Claus wedding ceremony seems to depict a radiant, smiling Jesus looking on as the two men smooch.
Parents around the country have packed school board meetings over the past two years, enraged about what they say is a push to sexualize young children with books and lessons focused on gay and transgender lifestyles.
Conservative parent organizations and LGBT groups, such as Gays Against Groomers, have formed alliances and blasted the trend.
They say it’s motivated by a push to groom youth for sexual activity and promote transgenderism, which has become a lucrative industry.
Many progressives and liberals defend the lessons about gender identity and sexual orientation for young children, saying they’re meant to promote tolerance, self-acceptance, and safety for LGBT youth.
‘Snowperson’ Sex Education
It’s not surprising the “snowperson” lesson explaining sexual topics received a warm welcome from schools in New Jersey.
In 2019, the New Jersey Department of Education issued an updated policy on Transgender Student Guidance for School Districts, guaranteeing the confidentiality of a student’s transgender status.
“Schools should address the student using a chosen name; the student’s birth name should be kept confidential by school and district staff,” according to the policy.
But many parents gave the snowperson lesson a chillier reception.
Chaos and Control, a watchdog blog for parents published on Substack, alerted readers in a Dec. 16 post to images of the lesson plan being used in New Jersey schools.
Parents of students attending Lawrence Township public schools spoke against the lesson plan at an October school board meeting and expressed frustration with the growing emergence of transgender policies affecting their children.
During public comment, Ana Samuel described the way the “gender snowperson” lesson was being presented to 4th graders. In the lesson, she said, children are invited to think of themselves as snow beings that can be any gender they choose.
Neither the superintendent’s office for Lawrence Township Public Schools, nor the school board president, responded to requests for comment from The Epoch Times.
Boy, Girl, or Neither
The lesson plan that irked parents suggests that children draw a snowperson and decide whether it should be a boy, a girl, or neither.
The lesson materials were created for use in schools and children’s programs by Gsafe. The Human Rights Campaign, which advertises that it fights for “lesbian, gay, trans, and queer rights,” provides a downloadable copy for teachers. Gsafe’s mission, according to its website, is to create “just schools for LGBT youth.”
The goal for the snowperson lesson is to “explore the concepts of gender identity and expression” and help students understand the difference between gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex “assigned at birth.”
The assignment presents a three-part snowperson. The head has long, feminine eyelashes, a carrot nose, and a mustache. A cartoon box suggesting a thought floats above.
The middle section has a red heart, said to represent sexual orientation. Teachers should explain to students that means “who you love or are attracted to,” the lesson plan advises.
The bottom section of the snowperson includes only a yellow star, which represents a person’s “assigned sex at birth.” Students can label that as a girl, boy, or intersex, according to the guide for teachers.
Students should be instructed to fill in the thought bubble next to their creation’s head, labeling its gender identity, which is “who you are/how you feel as a person,” the teacher guide suggests.
The lesson also suggests using the “Family Diversity Vocabulary” guide to explain terms such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and heterosexual to children.
“It is important to respect all families and all family structures in our schools and to send the message to students that we all get to love who we love,” the lesson plan reads.
Santa Claus 2.0
Snowmen aren’t the only traditional Christmas characters experiencing a rewrite.
Another childhood icon, Santa Claus, is portrayed as a married gay man in “Santa’s Husband.”
The 2017 book, written by Daniel Kibblesmith and illustrated by A.P. Quach, is available to students at the New York City School Library System under the LGBT e-book collection.
“Santa’s Husband” attracted media attention in Madison County, Mississippi, for enraging residents when it appeared as part of a Christmas display at a public library.
Amazon calls the book a “fresh twist on Kris Kringle, a clever yet heartfelt book that tells the story of a black Santa, his white husband, and their life in the North Pole.” Its 504 reviews have earned a rating of four-and-a-half stars out of five on Amazon for the $11.99 book.
Featured reviews lavish praise:
“A genuinely sweet story that depicts a sound, joyful marriage,” raved Vice.com.
“We all know that Santa is white and heterosexual, right? Oh wait, he’s a magical imaginary fat dude who breaks into your house every year to leave your kids presents. He can be whatever you want him to be!” wrote Out.com.
“It’s the perfect gift for your racist, homophobic uncle!” suggested World of Wonder/WOW Report.
Edge Media Network called it an “enlightened account of the Kris Kringle legend … [with] deftly rendered drawings.”
Among other examples of marital bliss, the 32-page book describes the kiss-and-make-up routine of Santa and his husband as they enjoy milk and cookies together.
‘Protect the Family’
The Santa book illustrates that parents need to be increasingly vigilant about what is being presented to their children by trusted adults, said Kristen Huber, a national spokeswoman for the watchdog group County Citizens Defending Freedom.
“The standard for a healthy society is to protect those who cannot protect themselves and to protect the family structure,” Huber told The Epoch Times.
Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus with Christmas classics, such as “Frosty the Snowman,” or delightful tales of Santa, children now face lectures and indoctrination doled out by adults in positions of trust, she said.
“It is frightening to think that we, as a society, are witnessing the innocence of our children being taken away at far too early an age,” Huber said.
Tanya Parus, president of the Moms for America chapter in Sarasota County, Florida, bristles at what she sees as the book’s attack on traditional family structure.
She told The Epoch Times that she blames those on the political left for a push to “confuse children” at an early age.
“At what point do we draw the line?” Parus asked. “Their fascination with destroying the nuclear family baffles me.”
Parus added, “In elementary school, a kid wants to be a superhero or a princess when they grow up. And now they are giving them even more things to imagine by questioning their actual sex.”
Darlene McCormick Sanchez reports for The Epoch Times from Texas. She writes on a variety of issues with a focus on Texas politics, election fraud, and the erosion of traditional values. She previously worked as an investigative reporter and covered crime, courts, and government for newspapers in Texas, Florida, and Connecticut. Her work on The Sinful Messiah series, which exposed Branch Davidians leader David Koresh, was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting in the 1990s.