Fairfax County School Board votes to introduce gender identity education to 7th graders
FAIRFAX, Va. (7News) — The Fairfax County School Board unanimously voted Thursday to introduce changes to family life and sex education in public schools.
The Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee, which consists of members that school board members appoint, put forward a number of recommendations, including teaching intimate topics and gender identity to 7th graders.
READ | Survey: 84% of Fairfax County parents oppose gender combined sex education classes
The changes mean 7th graders wouldwatch this video, which says in part, “We do have different body parts. But let me take a minute here and say that in addition to girl parts [and] boy parts, there are also people who have different parts or intermediate parts or people who do not fit in a traditional binary gender system of male or female. There are people who are trans or people who don’t have a gender.”
Vicki Burnett-Miller is a mother to a rising 7th grader in Fairfax County. She thinks parents should be the lead educators on topics such as gender identity, not schools.
"Definitely, since we are moving away from the biological lessons when we are getting into this other territory, this does seem to be more of a family discussion than a school discussion,” said Burnett-Miller.
Sixteen members of the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee are seeking the school board’s direction to explore teaching gender identity in elementary schools.
In the report, the committee stated they are committed to, “providing a curriculum that values and supports all students and normalizes human sexuality, sexual development, and sexual health. The exclusion of gender identity at the elementary level does not create an environment that is open and accepting of all students or provide a safe space for students to learn about themselves and others. Students who do not 'see' themselves in the curriculum do not feel valued and may feel that there is something wrong with them or they are being dismissed.”
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Fairfax County parent Vanessa Hall is on the committee that proposed the recommendations to the school board.
“Family life education, it is something I think is really critical to help both protect children and enable them to thrive in our community,” Hall told 7News in 2023. “We listen to the students. We really think about what they need and we make a thoughtful approach from there.”
7News spoke to two parents who see things differently.
"Introducing gender ideology in elementary school is inappropriate,” said Shelly Arnoldi.
"It does not belong in elementary at all,” said Laura Hanford. “These kids still believe in Santa Claus. They're not equipped at all. That's the age where you accept as truth what you're told. And as teachers, you're supposed to help navigate truth, not impose somebody's ideology."
The public only had a month to weigh in on the recommended changes. Most of the recommendations had little to no responses from parents. The recommendation that got the most feedback by far was the topic of gender spectrum in elementary instruction in which more than 2,100 people provided feedback.
Many people said this is inappropriate and that elementary-aged children are too young to understand complex concepts like gender identity and gender spectrum. Some people say parents should be the primary educators on sensitive topics such as gender identity. Others said discussing gender identity in schools may conflict with the cultural and religious beliefs of many families and that early introduction of gender identity topics may confuse young children.