Only 2 MORE WEEKS to Submit Your Comment on DESE'S new Health Framework!

The activists at SIECUS are trying to influence DESE. Are these the people you want weighing in on your child's classroom education?

It's time for another friendly reminder to send DESE your public comment on the new draft Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework.

Every week since the public comment period began, we have been highlighting one objectionable area of the framework and providing you with an example of curricula that would align with the Framework.

To see our previous countdown posts, click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

But today we are going to do something a little different. Today we are going to highlight one of the organizations pushing for this Framework. Today we are going to talk about SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a national nonprofit based in Washington DC. SIECUS was founded in 1964 by Mary Calderone, Planned Parenthood’s medical director, and they have been doing their level best since then to promote sex ed, abortion, and basically all things sexual to school-age kids. In 2019 SIECUS dropped their longer name and added the tagline “Sex Ed for Social Change” to all of their branding, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about their agenda.

At least they’re not pretending that they aren’t activists.

For more on the activist history of SIECUS, click HERE.

SIECUS created the Guidelines for Comprehensive Education: Kindergarten – 12th Grade, a resource still widely used as a foundational document for educational programs that want to adopt a Comprehensive Sexuality Education model (ahem… like what DESE is hoping to adopt). Take a peek inside the SIECUS Guidelines, paying attention to the Level system and what age each level corresponds to:

Here they want to talk to 5-8 year olds about genitals and how they feel good when touched.

Here they want to talk to 5-8 year olds about masturbation.

Here they want to talk to 5-8 year olds about how people often engage in sexual behaviors to “show caring” and “feel good.”

More talking to little kids about how it feels good to touch their bodies…

And, what would “sex ed for social change” be without teaching little kids about abortion?

This is just an example of the type of content that SIECUS considers “age appropriate” for young children and that they recommend in their Guidelines.

SIECUS is also involved in creating the National Sex Education Standards, another widely used resource that contains some similar verbiage and is also VERY big on gender ideology.

Here we see that “by the end of 2nd grade” kids should be able to “define gender and gender identity…”

And that kids in grades 3-5 should learn about “…romantic and sexual feelings, masturbation…”

And, teaching middle school age kids that abortion is just another option if you happen to get pregnant.

So, why does SIECUS matter? What do they have to do with DESE’s draft Framework? Were the SIECUS guidelines and National Sex Education Standards used to help create the very Framework that DESE may recommend for MA schools? We believe they were, though we can’t say for sure, because DESE left their sources intentionally vague. From page 12 of the Framework:

“The Pre-K through grade 12 Practices for Comprehensive Health and Physical Education are the processes and skills students will learn throughout the elementary, middle, and high school years that promote and maintain lifelong health and well-being. Adapted from the 2007 National Health Education Standards, the 2013 SHAPE America Grade Level Outcomes for Physical Education, the CASEL Social and Emotional Competencies, among other sources, these practices support the development of skills students need throughout life, and which are reinforced and applied across disciplines and settings. This approach is evidence-based and aligns with best practices outlined in the Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Essential Components of Physical Education from SHAPE America.” (Emphasis added)

But check out these pages from the National Standards… do any of these organizations look familiar?

If you’ve read the list of Content Advisors on page 4 of the draft Framework, they should. Advocates for Youth and SHAPE America, both of which are listed here, had a seat at the Framework-writing table. In fact, Nora Gelperin, AfY’s Director of Sexuality Education and Training, personally contributed to both documents.

And not only did SIECUS and their “Sex Ed for Social Change” ideology likely inform DESE’s draft Framework, but now, they are going to bat for it.

The following email was shared with us over the weekend by an advocate who is on SIECUS’s mailing list. This national organization is rallying their troops to contact DESE to express support for the draft Framework.

They are calling concerned parents who don’t want their kids sexualized or taught lies about what it means to be male or female “right-wing extremists who want to erase kids from existence.” 🙄 We know this isn’t true, as do the growing number of non-conservative parents who oppose the Framework because they aren’t on board with gender ideology and sexualizing kids. But SIECUS has jumped on the gaslighting train, which at this point, is boring and unconvincing to anyone outside of their own echo chamber.

Since you can’t click on the link in the screenshot, here’s the “Toolkit” that SIECUS recommends people use when they contact DESE:

So, not only does SIECUS want their followers to express support for the Framework, they want DESE to add even MORE controversial material!

None of this is surprising if you know anything about SIECUS, or even take just a few minutes to survey their social media. This is the type of stuff they advocate for:

And, this is them, too:

That’s “Veronica the vulva,” in case you were wondering. She appears in multiple videos.

All of this matters because SIECUS has never been shy about their agenda. You don’t have to wonder about who they are, because they show you. The only question is, do you want this organization influencing your child’s curriculum?

Or, should I say, more than they already have?

See, SIECUS was mentioned twice in the reference/resource section of the 1999 MA Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework.

If DESE referenced SIECUS in 1999, we can be pretty sure that SIECUS will show up in DESE’s list of references this year… once they have the courage to publish it. And the SIECUS of today is like the SIECUS of 1999 on steriods, and with unscientific gender ideology mixed in.

This is why, with SIECUS and other well-funded activist groups advocating for the draft Framework, it is more important than ever that MA parents and community members speak out and make their voices heard.

To submit your comment today, click HERE to use MFI's easy submission form.

If you have already submitted a comment through MFI’s form, or you would prefer to submit more detailed feedback, you can also submit feedback through DESE’s survey. This is what SIECUS is encouraging people to do. HERE is the link to DESE’s survey.

You can also read THIS POST for other ways to submit your comment. You’ll also find lots of other useful links including our extensive 33-page evaluation of the most concerning content in this draft Framework. And if you prefer a quick look at the issues with DESE's draft Framework, click HERE to download our pdf one-sheet.

As of today, there are only 14 more days until public comment ends. That’s only two weeks! If you still haven’t commented, send yours in today.