The state has assumed total control over our children
In France, courts have ruled that parents have no right to protect their kids from gender ideology.
Should it be parents or state officials who decide what children learn about sex, sexuality and relationships? At what age is it appropriate to introduce children to gender ideology? It is not just Britain that is grappling with these questions. In recent weeks, courts in both France and the US have passed judgement on the right of parents to remove children from school classes that run counter to their values. Yet they reached very different conclusions.
Schools in France have been legally obliged to teach ‘sexuality education’ since 2001. In February, allegedly in response to concern that not all children received full instruction, the French Ministry of Education then published an updated curriculum on ‘emotional, relational and sexual life’ (EVARS). From September, all schools in receipt of state funding must teach this new programme designed to ‘impart fundamental values, such as respect for oneself and others’, ‘prevent discrimination’, promote gender equality and combat stereotypes. These lessons will be mandatory for pupils across France.
The new classes are promoted as being ideologically neutral, but in reality they are nothing of the sort. In second grade (typically aged seven to eight), children will be introduced to the unscientific and highly contested idea that some people are transgender. By fifth grade (10 to 11 years old), they will be taught that there is no automatic connection between sex and gender, and that gender identity is a feeling. In their final year of high school (aged 17 to 18), students will be expected to ‘understand LGBTQ+ struggles and the history of Pride marches’. As one critic writing in Le Journal du Dimanche notes, the expectation that students will demonstrate understanding suggests a far greater degree of acceptance than a goal of ‘examining’ or ‘discussing’ those issues.
To continue reading, go to Spiked or become a paid subscriber.