Dear World, Let’s Unteach Schools’ Overreach

Parents from across the world have watched in shock as schools adopted policies allowing boys to play on girls’ sports teams, enter their locker rooms and bathrooms, stay in the same rooms on overnight field trips, and require staff to teach disputed gender ideology as truth. As though that weren’t enough, schools have decided that they have the right to secretly transition children to a different gender identity based on the child’s self-diagnosis of being transgender without parental notification, consent, or evaluation by a psychologist or medical professional.

With thousands of schools across the world captured by gender ideology, is there anything parents can do to stop it?

Yes, for sure!

You aren’t powerless. You’ve got options—and you’re part of a growing movement.

The first thing to know is that schools are paper tigers. School officials can sound authoritative and often speak with great confidence, but usually relent when faced with widespread opposition. Both common sense and research are on our side, so rest assured the truth will win in the end.

Parents who want to begin taking actions both large and small can join Unteach.net, who has partnered with Genspect, Our Duty, Transparency in Education, Resist Gender Education, In Defence Of Children, LASI, and Concerned Parents of Carroll County to fight gender ideology in schools.

Taking meaningful action is not as hard as it might seem. Because we know that people have different comfort levels and availability of time to help, we at Unteach the Overreach have created an Advocacy Ladder starting from simpler actions that can be done at home, all the way up to larger, more involved efforts, which I’ll introduce below.

We ask that you consider joining with parents across the world and do one of these items the second Thursday of every month. That’s it. One item, once a month. And you’ll change schools across the world more than you might think. Plus, it’s fun. Did we mention the fun?

So here it is: the Advocacy Ladder, from bottom to top. How far up can you climb?

• Educate yourself – Read one article about transgender issues. Shhhh, it’s a secret. You’re not yet ready to share what you know, and that’s OK. Eventually you’ll be bursting to tell someone.
• Educate a friend – Share an article. If you’re really bold, ask them to send it to five of their friends, and ask those friends to share it with five more, creating a snowball. Don’t worry about convincing them. Just get them thinking and talking.
• File a freedom of information act request – Ask schools how many children are secretly being transitioned without parental consent. Request the training material they use to train teachers in gender ideology, or the protocols used to handle gender questioning children, or for a copy of the curriculum. If they won’t tell you or want to charge large sums of money for the information, consider going public with that fact. You’ll be surprised what you can learn just by asking!
• Write a letter to the editor – Be a part of the steady drumbeat of letters arguing for common sense and sound science. People learn more from a short letter that makes one point well than a long letter, so keep it simple.
• Educate school staff – Share an article with a teacher, administrator, or other staff, and ask them to share with their colleagues and let you know what they thought of it. Yep, this is bolder than sharing with your friends. Now you’re going into the belly of the beast! Expect a few moans and groans as they digest the truth.
• Write a letter to your school or the school board – Politely tell the schools you do not consent to them transitioning your child or having mixed sex bathrooms or sports teams and you want to opt out of gender ideology lessons. Shower them with kindness.
• Speak at a school board meeting – Calmly and non-judgmentally express your concerns about their policies and request that they be open with parents about their protocols for handling gender questioning children. If that’s not having enough impact after a few meetings, consider not saying a word but simply playing the emotional testimony of a regretful detransitioner from your phone. You’ll get your point across.
• Create an advocacy group or support group – Use Facebook, Twitter, or even a custom web site. Post articles of interest and start connecting with other parents and groups. Don’t forget to post some funny things, too. Good advocacy requires a sense of humor.
• Hold a forum at the public library – Invite experts to help educate your community. Invite parents, your school board, and other elected officials. Have people sign in so you can contact them later and build a coalition, or at least throw a really big party.
• Pass out flyers – In our experience 80-90% of the people who answer the door immediately agree with us but didn’t realize their schools had embraced gender ideology. They usually thank you for telling them, and some will want your number to stay in touch, and who doesn’t want more friends?
• File a lawsuit – Find a pro bono lawyer who will take up your cause (yes, they exist), whether your grounds are parental rights, religious freedom, or something else. Schools start to pay attention if they smell legal trouble ahead. You can often be anonymous, too.
• Picket your local school or school board – Bring a megaphone or stand silently with other parents while carrying signs. Smile at the staff as they report to work. You just gave them something to talk about. Kudos for making their day.
• Invite outside speakers to your rally – Get an audio system and have a full lineup of speakers from different perspectives who aren’t local to your area. This is when school boards realize you’re seriously not letting this go. Enjoy the moment.
• Keep your child out of school – Schools that don’t respect parental rights don’t deserve to have your children attend them. In most areas, parents can take an authorized absence for a family vacation. In some areas, schools are subject to financial penalties when children are absent, which sends a strong message.
• Run for school board – If you can’t beat them, join them! Even if you don’t win, you’ll make your opponents defend keeping secrets from parents, violating women’s privacy, and supporting unfairness in sports. That’s a tough road for them, and an easy one for you.

Our first event is on Thursday, September 14, 2023. Unteach.net is encouraging parents across the world to keep their children out of school that day, but even if that’s not the first step you want to take, we hope you’ll do one of the actions above. The next event will be October 12, 2023.

Mother Theresa once said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” No matter what you choose to do, the collective impact of many people across the world taking actions out of their love of children will make a difference. Thank you for helping us to Unteach the Overreach!

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Header image by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash