Warning: The content in this newsletter—even though taught to California’s school children—may contain graphic and offensive material.

Advocates recently submitted a public records request to the Riverside County Department of Education regarding its sexual health education opt-out policies. Not surprisingly, the documents given by Riverside County officials to train teachers were prepared by the ACLU and took a strong stance against parental rights.

The documents stated that allowing parents to opt their children out of gender and LGBTQ content would “violate the non-discrimination provisions of the Education Code and would open districts up to significant liability for discrimination.” The California Department of Education website echoes the belief that parents have no choice but to expose their children these sexual health education lessons.

What does the sexual health curriculum consist of? Unfortunately, it is a calculated effort to sexualize our children. This effort is why we have identified California’s sex-ed curriculum in our series on the “Top 5 Attacks” Against Constitutional Rights.

The backbone to the sexualization effort is the 2019 revision of the California “Health Education Framework,” which covers instructional materials in six content areas, including a graphic and inappropriate sex-ed component. State officials are expected to finalize the curriculum in May.

Last spring, parents in the San Diego Unified School District flocked to school board meetings and kept their children out of school to protest the implementation of its Sexual Health Education Program (SHEP) program. “It is too graphic, too extreme, and too over-sexualizing, and must be replaced,” SDUSD parent and teacher Ashley Bever told KUSI News:

“We don’t believe mutual masturbation, oral sex and anal sex should be promoted to our 11 and 12-year-old kids. SHEP grooms our sons and daughters for premature sexual interest, experimentation, and engagement, leading to the sexual objectification of our children.”

LifeSiteNews.com reported parents in Orange County were angered about several sex-ed resources, including a “sexual health toolkit” and a study guide to accompany the transgender children’s book, “I Am Jazz.” In addition to defining various sex terms, the study guide asks students, “What if you don’t have time or money to buy sex toys?” The response? “Cucumbers, carrots, and bananas (with the peel) make great dildos. Just remember to use a condom!”

As if that isn’t enough, the California Department of Education’s website also provides a litany of resources espousing a wide range of state and national resources promoting anything-goes sexuality.

Advocates for Faith & Freedom is working to defend parental constitutional rights and expose the sexualization of children in public schools. I am actively meeting with pastors, parents, teachers, and school board members to advise and guide them through legal options to protect their children from this government-sanctioned over-sexualization.

I recently testified before the Orange County Board of Education as an expert witness on constitutional parental rights. I took a strong stand based on Supreme Court precedent that parents have an absolute and unequivocal right to opt their children out of any and all sexual health education, including all instruction on gender and sexual orientation.

The idea that parents should control the upbringing of their children is not just a personal or religious principal; this is a legal principal that has been reaffirmed time and time again by the highest court in our nation. The Supreme Court ruling in Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944) underscored the constitutional right of parents to raise their children as they see fit:

"It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder. And it is in recognition of this that these decisions have respected the private realm of family life which the state cannot enter."

We encourage parents of public school children to examine not only their health and sex education curriculum, but also their social studies and English language books and lessons. You should also inquire with your school district about proper parental notification and the availability to opt your child out.

If you are met with resistance or have further concerns about your child’s curriculum, please contact me. We will not stand idly by and watch the sexualization of our children in public schools and the disregard for parental rights. Not on my watch.

In His Service,

Nada Higuera

Advocates Attorney

P.S. Please don’t forget, your generous donation to Advocates for Faith & Freedom will allow us to continue to provide this important information and legal counsel to parents, teachers and school board members who are with us in the fight to protect their rights, and the innocence of their children.