July 2023

Unteach the Overreach

Parents often ask, “What can we do to oppose gender ideology?” Just announced is an opportunity for parents to re-assert their rights by participating in an international collaboration on September 14. Called “Unteach the Overreach”, this event calls on parents to withdraw their children from school for the day on Thursday 14 September and send a letter of protest to the principal.

We will have more information, a template letter for NZ, and ideas for actions on the day in our August newsletter. If you have any ideas or requests for the day, please email info@resistgendereducation.nz.

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Spare a thought for teachers

Teachers are in an invidious position when it comes to relationships and sexuality edcuation. While some believe in gender identity ideology, many don’t, and these teachers have no choice but to follow their school’s policies. They have no support and no guidance about their rights from their professional body or their union and they risk losing their jobs if they speak up.

Here is one recent testimonial RGE has received from a teacher:

I am a secondary science teacher. I was forced into a role last year to teach a health unit to a year 10 class and that is where the movement of gender ideology came to my attention . I used curriculum resources that were given to me to teach the students on "gender identity" which came as a new experience for me when my background is in sciences and I usually teach biology, chemistry and physics.

I also have become exposed to more students expressing the need to use opposite gender pronouns and names. I have been supportive, collegial and accepting throughout this time when working through these new changes, however deep down something has not been sitting right with me. Upon investigation of the world-wide gender ideologies, I have now begun to form a more educated perspective on the situation and it has confirmed the doubts and concerns I had for my role as an educator and for all my students.

I have become increasingly uncomfortable in my role as a science teacher and as someone who cares deeply for our tamariki in light of the progression of gender ideologies filtering into our education system. I have felt I have had no guidance or consultation regarding this and in a sense feel 'coerced' to use pronouns and names of a child that is not in alignment with their original. I feel it is causing confusion in our students and staff and I am fearful that this will have long-reaching effects on our students, including the ones who are wanting to transition under the age of 18 and have not gone through puberty yet.

I am finding the blurring of truth and also the backlash of student response when other students do not use the pronouns increasingly hard to manage and my open public apology to a whole assembly when I have misused them as well makes me feel I am walking a dangerous line of falsity. I am wondering what protection is in place for teachers who may be feeling like this because it is leading to a creation of a fear-controlled environment.

Read more testimonials on our website at: https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/testimonials

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Is this book in your children’s lbrary?

“Welcome to Sex” is marketed as “a frank, age-appropriate introductory guide to sex and sexuality for teens of all genders”, but there is growing opposition to its graphic contents being promoted as suitable for children as young as eight. One of our supporters writes:

I’m not in the least bit surprised that [local library] has the “Welcome to Sex” book available for children because it has 23 transgender books also in the children’s area. But, they could at least be honest with the ‘blurb’. They say the book talks about contraception and how to make sex fun, and ‘real’ and ’shame free’, and that it will help readers “navigate their sexual debut with confidence.”

A wee reminder that this book is marketed on the opening page, and as the cartoon pictures will attest, to 11-14 year olds with “all the information you need.” This is an age group below the legal age of consent - yet the book is described as ‘age appropriate’. It is odd that the library missed out the opportunity in the blurb to ‘sell’ the sections on anal sex, penis sizes and hand jobs, rimming, oral sex, and transgenderism.

The author says she’d be happy for a “mature 8yr old to read it”. I can’t think of any 8-12 year olds I know, particularly the young girls, who would really benefit from knowing how to give a hand job, or knowing how to have anal sex. And I don’t remember feeling that I was deprived by not knowing about that until I was considerably older.

Oddly, there’s no section on the dangers of oral and anal sex - possible fissures/fecal matter - which can lead to Hepatitis A and other infections. But, hey, let’s not let the facts get in the way of ‘navigating their sexual debut’ and besides, that information is probably far too ‘adult’ to discuss.

Susan McLean, a cyber security expert has written here about the irresponsible advice given in the book to make sure the head is cropped when sending nude pictures. “This is dangerous advice that could be read by some as suggesting it is OK to send a headless nude… Young people can still be blackmailed, bullied, betrayed, and charged after sending a headless nude. As adults, we must do better than brush over behaviour that is considered criminal and will in almost all cases end in tears despite what the authors believe.”

It appears your local library and the Chief Censor (info@classificationoffice.govt.nz) need reminding that it is an offence under Part 7, Section 124A of the Crimes Act 1961 to expose a person under the age of 16 to indecent materials.

Ask the hard questions

Candidate meetings for the general election are beginning and we hear that many politicians are dodging questions about gender ideology in schools by saying it’s not the government’s business and is something that should be sorted out between parents and schools. This is a politically expedient manoeuvre that protects the politicians while allowing the Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum to continue causing harm in our schools. We suggest being very specific in the questions you ask:

Will you withdraw the Ministry of Education advice to schools that they should embed sexuality education in all subject areas as this thwarts the right of parents to opt out their children from content they disagree with?

Will you withdraw the Relationships and Sexuality Guidelines that teach children incorrectly that there are three sexes, that sex is assigned at birth and is not binary and that humans can change their sex?

Will you ensure that all children receive science lessons that provide correct biological facts about sex, and stop them being taught incorrectly that there are multiple gender identities that are more significant than their sex?

Will you commit to undertake a full review of the Relationships and Sexuality curriculum that involves parental viewpoints and not just those of gender identity activists?

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What is a woman?

In a striking demonstration of the collusion of media to suppress any public objections to gender dentity beliefs, an advertising campaign sponsored by Family First was rejected by six major New Zealand newspapers because it asked the simple question “What is a woman?” After initially agreeing to run the ad, Stuff declined to do so at the last minute, citing that it “doesn’t align with the values of Stuff.”

Family First says, “It should concern all of us that newspaper editors are now banding together to censor advertisements that they disagree with. Where does this place their coverage of the political debate leading up to the General Election? What else are they censoring?”

“The main objective of the “What is a woman?” campaign is to create a discussion around a truthful, biologically correct, common-sense definition of “woman” that has been carried down through generations and cultures. An accompanying petition to the campaign calls for‘woman’ to be defined as ‘an adult human female’ in all our laws, public policies and regulations. The campaign encourages Kiwis to start the conversation and to ask political candidates the simple question.”

To read about the campaign and sign the petition, go to https://familyfirst.org.nz/whatisawoman/. It appears that the newspapers’ actions have boosted attention for the petition and, at time of writing, it has garnered over 17,000 signatures in ten days.

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New resources

We have available business cards to give to interested aquaintances and a 10 page information booklet to take to principals or boards of trustees.

Any donations to cover printing and postage costs will be gratefully received into the RGE account: ASB 12-3158-0186494-00.

To order our resources, please send an email to info@resistgendereducation.nz with the resource you want in the subject line. Don’t forget to give us your name and address in the message box and how many of each resource you want.

If you would like to be sent 50 of our “Sex cannot change” cards, please deposit $10 for postage into the RGE account: ASB 12-3158-0186494-00 with your name in the reference field. Then email info@resistgendereducation.nz giving your name and address. These cards are ideal for giving out at meetings or to parents at the school gate.

If you want to leaflet letter boxes or cars, this black & white flyer is more suitable and is now available on our website for you to download and print. https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/information/order-resources

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Poor evidence for youth gender transition

In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, 21 leading experts in the field of paediatric gender medicine said youth gender transition is being pushed without good evidence. " Every systematic review of evidence to date, including one published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, has found the evidence for mental-health benefits of hormonal interventions for minors to be of low or very low certainty. By contrast, the risks are significant and include sterility, lifelong dependence on medication and the anguish of regret. For this reason, more and more European countries and international professional organizations now recommend psychotherapy rather than hormones and surgeries as the first line of treatment for gender-dysphoric youth."

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Australian psychiatrist stood down

Dr Jillian Spencer was stood down from the Queensalnd Children’s Hospital in March after a complaint. She is now seeking amendments to health policy via the Human Rights Commission, alleging that she was prevented from adopting a neutral therapeutic approach to young patients and was instead forced to comply with gender-affirming policies that risked harming the children.

“I became very concerned about the potential harm our hospital was doing in immediately using preferred pronouns, that ­unquestioningly affirms a child’s perceived identity and sets them on a treatment pathway of medical intervention that purports to transition a young person into an identity that they are likely to outgrow if interventions of this kind are not applied,” said Dr Spencer.

Dr Spencer wants the Human Rights Commission to acknowledge that a rejection of the affirmation model of gender dysphoria treatment is a protected political belief and a reasonable professional judgment that is to be respected. Sha has asked for confirmation that “no health worker may be required to use a patient’s preferred pronouns” and that “affirmation of a child’s gender identity cannot be imposed on health professionals”.