Conflict arises in Charlotte

A new gender identity curriculum rumored to hit NC schools

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) in North Carolina made national headlines this summer when information was released that the school system was possibly going to use a gender unicorn in its curriculum to teach about transgenderism and allow students to choose their preferred restroom and changing room.

The gender unicorn is a purple cartoon graphic with section headers on the right side titled “gender identity,” “gender expression”, “sex assigned at birth,” “physically attracted to” and “emotionally attracted to.”

There also is a rainbow in a thought bubble above the unicorn’s head.

Uproar began across the country when news leaked, and Christian leaders were not silent.

Liberty University alumni and entrepreneurs Jason and David Benham took to the internet to voice their opinion.

They shared with their internet following how appalled they were that students could possibly be exposed to this teaching on transgenderism.

According to a Charlotte Observer article, CMS employees said they only used the gender unicorn in principal training material, not in material to teach the students.

“There is not a transgender curriculum for students,” CMS Superintendent Ann Clark said to the Charlotte Observer. “There’s not a plan to have a transgender curriculum.”

Though Clark made this statement clarifying the gender unicorn, others in the community were not convinced their children would be immune from being taught lessons with the gender unicorn.

In June 2016, it was announced by CMS that it would allow transgender students to use bathrooms and changing rooms based on their current gender they identify with, as reported by the Charlotte Observer.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Clark said, “Although official transcripts must carry the name and gender on the student’s birth certificate, schools will be expected to create class rosters that use the student’s preferred identity. All students will have access to increased privacy, such as a screened area in the locker room or a single-stall restroom, on request.”

“And gender-based activities that have no educational purpose, such as having a girls’ and boys’ line to go to recess, will be phased out,” Clark said, as reported by Observer reporter Ann Doss Helms.

Christian leader Franklin Graham, President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association located in Charlotte, posted on Facebook about the gender unicorn curriculum, calling Charlotte area Christians to attend school board meetings and to pray for truth to be made known.

“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina want to try to brainwash our children into accepting that homosexuality and transgender behavior is okay — and they’re using an innocent looking Gender Unicorn to do it,” Graham said on his Facebook Aug. 5.

In August 2016, due to a Supreme Court ruling, CMS had to put on hold its new proposed regulations regarding treatment of transgender students in the school district, Helms reported.

After living in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County all summer and passing a public school in the system on my drive to work, I can’t help but think what would happen if those Charlotte-Mecklenburg students were taught using the gender unicorn in their classes.

Elementary schoolers barely able to handle the daily separation from their parents could be taught that they can choose their gender.

The majority of elementary students would never even consider that he or she could be the opposite gender if he or she wanted to.

This would lead to so many confused children. Christian parents who are teaching their children Christian values would have to compete with public school teachers in so many more ways.

As Christians, how can we be okay with our children being repeatedly told that they can be different that what God has created them to be? How can we allow our children to be repeatedly told something other than what we believe?

After enough times of hearing something, students are bound to start taking it as their own beliefs.

Public schools have been given the power to educate our children during the school day, but we must stand up for what we believe should be taught in our schools.

With a little sister who just finished elementary school, my heart is broken for her innocence that is already being ripped away by the world.

Yes, she needs to be aware of what is going on around her in the world, but she does not need to be enveloped in gender identity discussions each day at school.

Though the gender unicorn will not make its debut this school year in CMS, we must be prepared for similar things to creep into our public school curriculum. God has given us a voice for a reason, and we must be ready to proclaim truth even when it is difficult.

Rodriguez is the editor-in-chief.