from Washington Update, Family Research Council

If there’s one subject giving Massachusetts schools trouble, it’s anatomy! The state’s Department of Education shocked everyone last week with new directives that completely abolish traditional gender roles, gender-based bathrooms and clothing, and even gender-specific sports in public schools. With 11 pages of rules, the state rolled out the welcome mat to transgender and cross-dressing students–at great expense to their peers and parental rights.

“A student who says she is a girl and wishes to be regarded that way throughout the school day… should be respected and treated like a girl.” (Even if that student is actually a boy and just wants easy access to the girls’ locker room.) Under these guidelines, teachers are banned from telling moms and dads which gender their child is identifying as at school. “This policy,” says Massachusetts Family Policy Council, “allows students to have one gender identity at home and another at school.”

Anything short of full acceptance won’t be tolerated. A student caught speaking out against the new policy–even if they feel threatened or treated unfairly–will be punished. If, for example, a student refuses to refer to a transgender classmate by their preferred name or sex, it would be “grounds for discipline.” Starting this year, even kindergarteners will be targets for indoctrination. Under the new system, boys and girls can no longer line up separately to use the restroom or leave the classroom.

And liberals wonder why more families are pulling their children out of public school! As a father of three girls, I would do everything in my power to keep teenage boys from accessing my children in school locker rooms or restrooms. Inclusivity has its limits–and personal safety should be one of them. If this policy survives, one thing is certain: Massachusetts schools will be a lawsuit-rich environment.

Apart from modesty, some families are fuming about the injustice of it all. One outraged dad, Bill Gillmeister, is angry that the policy gives cross-dressing students an advantage over other kids. “What about the girl who loses a spot on that basketball team because a boy is able to play as a girl?” he asked.

As parents across Massachusetts fume about the new rules, the controversy certainly reinforces an important point: this is the future of same-sex “marriage” in America. It may take teenage boys invading girls’ locker rooms to prove it, but redefining marriage is about a lot more than two people who love each other. This is about the fundamental altering of society. Maybe some of you have fallen for the lie that same-sex “marriage” won’t affect you. I guarantee that you’ll feel differently when you’re trying to pull your second grader out of a lesson on homosexuality–and end up in handcuffs instead. Or when your daughter comes home in tears because she’s been suspended for telling someone she felt uncomfortable using the bathroom with a male teacher inside. By then, it will be too late.

© 2013 Family Research Council