In Massachusetts, elementary schools are offering sexuality themed clubs for children.
Jess Richardson, communications and research assistant for the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), says the Rainbow Club and the similar Rainbow Alliance have nothing to do with the biblical meaning of a rainbow.
"It's an LGBTQ club for students in elementary school," she relays.
Richardson says her team started investigating when they began getting Facebook messages from parents about these clubs, which generally target students as young as third grade, though some schools open the clubs up to kindergartners.
"There's a couple different examples of lessons that are online," she references. "They're doing things like talking about LGBTQ history, they're reading books that have transgender characters, [and] there's one that we found in Cambridge Public Schools where they were having the kids make trans awareness posters and personal pride flags."
"Little kids are not old enough to be thinking about sexual attraction and things like that," Richardson asserts.
As MFI continues to look for other public schools in Massachusetts that offer these clubs, Richardson urges parents to stay aware.
"Some of the schools are looking for parental consent before children can participate in these clubs," she notes. "Others don't seem to require that."
Her team has received at least one report where a school was specifically telling the staff that parents did not need to consent to their children's participation in the sexually themed clubs.
The era of school choice continues
Alabama recently became the latest state to pass universal school choice.
Governor Kay Ivey (R) says the plan will work for families, for the state, and "be effective and sustainable for generations to come."
"Today is a historic day as we officially sign our education savings account bill," she declared at the CHOOSE Act's signing last week.
The new law is reportedly designed to allow state funds to go to parents to help them pay for their children to go to the school of the family's choice. It also allows families to put a portion of their education tax dollars toward private education, home education, or educational expenses.
The American Federation for Children (AFC) praises the measure, with Ryan Cantrell, vice president of government relations, calling the victory "proof that the era of school choice continues across the nation."
According to AFC, the bill will allow up to $2,000 per child toward educational expenses for those who homeschool. The funding is scheduled to become available in 2025 to families whose income meets the requirement of earning less than $77,000 a year for a family of three.
