This Week's MIP Digest

Why you need to learn what AMAZE is (before your kids do), public school options you can look into now, mark your calendar for these upcoming storytimes, and more.

Aug 06, 2023

Here’s the weekly MIP Digest!

The MIP Digest is a regular feature with all the great information that has been posted in the MIP Facebook group during the previous week and sent directly to your inbox. It won’t capture all of the interesting comments and conversations that happen in the Facebook group, but it will include the highlights and provide a quick overview of the content, in case you missed it.

First, here are the posts from our Admins:

The Countdown to Submit Your Comment on DESE'S new Health Framework Continues!

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 until the public comment period is over we will be highlighting one objectionable area of the framework and providing you with an example of a curricula that would align with the Framework.

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

Today we are highlighting “Range of Gender Identities,” a video resource from Amaze. Amaze is a collection of video-based curricular resources produced by Advocates for Youth (AfY). As we mentioned previously, AfY’s Director of Sexuality Education and Training served as a content contributor for DESE’s draft Framework. She is also listed on the Amaze website as a Content Expert. She can be heard in this interview saying that she has no idea how many genders there are, and that children can determine their own gender identity by age 4 or 5.

Given her beliefs on gender identity, it’s no surprise that the Amaze resources she helps create teach similar messages to very young children. DESE has not released their list of recommended resources for this Framework yet, but with AfY having a seat at the table, we’re fairly confident AfY and Amaze curriculum and resources will be on their list!

The video resource “Range of Gender Identities” correlates to several standards listed in DESE’s draft Framework for grades 3-5, listed below. You can also find these on page 27 of the draft Framework:

Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Sexual Health [3.5.GS]
1. Describe the differences between biological sex and gender identity, and explain how one’s outward behavior or appearance does not define one’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
2. Describe a range of ways people may express their gender and that some people’s gender identity (how they think about themselves) matches others’ expectations about what their bodies look like on the outside and others do not.
3. Explain how gender identity and sexual orientation can vary in each individual.

To see how this video meets DESE’s standards, watch it for yourself here:

Or check out the screenshots from the video attached to this post. The video features a family sitting down for dinner and a discussion about the gender identity of “Alex”, a friend who will be stopping by. The kids at the table authoritatively educate their elderly Uncle Jay, who still holds the regressive and silly view that there are only two genders. (But don’t worry, Uncle Jay, your family members will teach you all about gender ideology and how you can be a good person and get on board with the agenda!)

According to the Amaze website, this video is made for kids ages 9-12. That means that by Amaze’s own definition, it would be a perfect resource to be used in MA classrooms that are implementing this standard for kids in 4th or 5th grade.

Click over to THIS SUBSTACK POST for our full analysis of this video including more screenshots, why we think this could end up in your child's classroom, why it's dangerous for kids, and a peek at some of Amaze's newest (and even more graphic) material:

Amaze is a dumpster fire of nastiness, but the fact remains: if parents love Amaze, or if they want to teach their kids about gender ideology, there is nothing stopping them from showing videos like this to their kids at home. But there is NO reason why this resource, or the standards that underpin it, need to be brought into an elementary school classroom. It’s not necessary. It’s not appropriate. And we must tell DESE “no.”

Will DESE list AfY’s Amaze as one of their recommended resources? We’d be “amazed” if they DID’T! We already know some MA schools are using Amaze and other pro-gender ideology in the classroom (like The Genderbread Person), and if DESE approves these standards, more schools will follow.

This is just ONE of the many reasons we urge everyone to contact DESE and tell them that is Framework is not appropriate and cannot be accepted.

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

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 finally, for folks who prefer a quick look at the issues with DESE's draft Framework, click HERE to download our pdf one-sheet. This little document is perfect for the TLDR people in your life who don't have the time for a deep dive but still want to be in the know.

So far, over 700 people have commented through MFI's easy online system. If you aren't one of them, send your comment in now!

Looking for a public school option? ICYMI, check out what MFI’s Michael King had to say in this interviews about Learning Centers!

MFI's Michael King was interviewed on Brian’s Beat yesterday (Saturday, August 5th). The interview focused on Learning Centers, an exciting public school option.

In case you missed it, you can listen HERE.

Is this Book in Your Child’s School Library?

Parents, is this book in your child’s school library?

Click HERE to read the Book Looks report on this title.

Click HERE to use the online catalog to see if this book is in your child’s school library.

The same person who wrote this book is the same person who created the graphic website Scarlateen that we have warned about many times and that we have found recommended in comprehensive sexuality curricula being used in districts across the state. Search the group for “Scarlateen” to learn more, click HERE.