Unions 'coached' teachers to 'inject gender identity politics' into classrooms, report says

WASHINGTON (CITC) — A new report accuses the two largest teachers unions in the United States of training educators on how to include "gender identity politics" in their curriculums and classroom practices.

The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) together represent nearly 5 million public school teachers nationwide. In a report published Wednesday by the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI), the two unions are accused of encouraging teachers to discuss gender identity and sexual orientation with students regardless of parents' wishes.

The report details a July conference where AFT allegedly "coached its members on how to inject gender identity politics" into classrooms. The conference, titled the Together Educating America's Children (TEACH) conference, was comprised of sessions on "strategies to improve teaching and learning."

Two of the sessions included "Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in and out of the Classroom" and "The TGNCNB [transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary] Inclusive School and Classroom," according to DFI's report.

"The former session's description alleged the same false narrative of oppression propagated by the NEA: 'Local and state policies often prevent the wider acceptance and celebration of all individuals, especially those in the LGBTQIA+ community,'" the report reads. "The latter session's description argues that '[c]isnormativity,' the assumption that people's gender identity matches their biological sex, 'can be limiting for TGNCNB...and cisgender folks alike."

READ MORE | Teachers union recommends 'Gender Queer' to educators for summer reading

Angela Morabito, one of the report's authors, says that such sessions are not representative of most U.S. teachers' priorities.

The average rank and file teacher got into that field because they care about learning and they care about students," Morabito told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC). "And it is not lost on them that teachers unions are actively working against those goals ... The teachers unions are very clearly on the wrong side of not just what's good for students and families, but what's good for their own membership."

DFI's report claims that NEA and AFT have a "clear" mission to conceal gender-related discussions from parents and "shape school policies to force others to do the same."

At a rally earlier this year, NEA leaders called Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act "extremist," according to DFI's report. The Florida legislation requires, among other things, that teachers in the state refrain from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation with students in third grade and younger.

"I would say that the more extreme view by far is saying that teachers should take the place of parents and should have those conversations with kids," Morabito told CITC. "It is very dangerous, I believe, to characterize parents being concerned about their child's well-being and their child's education as anything other than a great thing."

A March poll found that 74% of registered U.S. voters believe schools should obtain parental consent before discussing a child's gender identity.

READ MORE | National teachers union issues guidance for hanging Pride flags, BLM signs in classrooms

Last month, NEA issued guidance on placing "inclusive symbols" in classrooms, encouraging teachers to challenge policies prohibiting Pride flags and Black Lives Matter imagery. The guidance followed the union's inclusion of "Gender Queer" on its summer reading list, a book that has been removed from schools nationwide due to its sexually explicit contents.

CITC reached out to both NEA and AFT for comment, but did not receive responses prior to publication. This story will be updated if responses are received.