OU & OSU DEI in Oklahoma Public Schools

Part 6: This segment lists some of the ways queer theory manifests in k-12 settings across the nation and provides examples from Oklahoma public schools.

Pushing queer theory onto children in educational settings requires queer activists to limit or eliminate parental rights and participation. Identity Marxists and activists lose power when parents are informed about and willing to speak out against queer theory. This segment lists some of the ways queer theory manifests in k-12 settings across the nation and provides examples from Oklahoma public schools.

The DEI initiatives enforced and promoted by universities, including OU and OSU, have now bled into public schools across the nation. The ideology and politics promoted by DEI initiatives are smuggled into schools via curricula, picturebooks, young adult literature, critical pedagogy, and clubs and organizations that promote Identity Marxism. Below is a list of ways queer theory is embedded in k-12 settings along with links to resources and news stories related to each topic.

·      Drag (Pennsylvania School Hosts Drag Show for Kids Without Parent’s Permission, Drag Queen at Middle School Career Day, PA High School Hosts Drag Show)

·      Queer Literature (Reading Picture Books and Discussing Gender Binary Topics with Elementary Students, Making Elementary School Classroom LGBTQ-Inclusive, Building Diverse Collections of LGBTQ-Inclusive Children’s Literature to Expand Windows and Mirrors for Youth, Trans Educators Network)

·      Sexuality and Gender Classroom Discussions (I’m a Transgender Teacher, Here’s Why I Came Out at My School, Third-grade Teacher Promotes Gender Confusion in Classroom, How to Discuss Gender Identity With Kids, According to a First Grade Teacher and Member of the Trans Community, Encourage Gender Equity in the Classroom)

·      Increasing Numbers of Children Identifying as Transgender (Expert claims peer pressure behind rising in teens identifying as trans, Peer Pressure and 'Transgender' Teens, Teacher Reveals 60% of Her lass Has Come Out As LGBTQ, Wants More Pride,)

·      Exclusion of Parents (Your Children Belong to the State?, Secret Gender and Sexuality Club)

·      Comprehensive Sex Education ( Sex Ed For Social Change SIECUS, Sex Ed Often Leaves Out Queer People, Why LGBTQ Youth Need Sed Ed )

·      Professional Development for Teachers ( LGBTQ+ and Gender Inclusive PD for Elementary Schools, CDC, Advocates for Youth,  Human Rights Campaign )

·      Transgender Policies (Frequently Asked Questions, A History Explained, Swift Ruling in School Bathroom Sexual Assault Case,  Oklahoma AG Opinion on Restroom Policies for Transgender Students, School Bathroom Access for Transgender Students)

Many Oklahoma educators, parents, grandparents, and other adults are unaware or baffled about DEI in K-12 schools but an increasing number of people are aware and concerned. It is becoming increasingly obvious that more and more Oklahoma schools are promoting DEI and as a result, some schools are embedding queer theory across all grade levels.

Recently, a teacher at Kennedy Elementary School in Norman, Oklahoma read with her class the book “Pride: The story of Harvey Milk and the rainbow flag” written by Rob Sanders. This is the same book seven OSU faculty and administrators from the College of Education and Human Sciences promoted on Facebook. Milk was assassinated in 1978, and since then, a heroic image of him has been promoted by Hollywood, media, and books, including literature written for children aged 2-5 years old, 5-8 years old, and teens. These people have cast Milk as a martyr who advanced and protected LGBTQ rights. The people promoting Milk’s legacy omit the fact that Milk, at age 33, had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

In Bixby Oklahoma, pre-k – 2nd-grade teachers were offered professional development about LGBTQ students. The training was approved by administrators but was canceled after Moms for Liberty in Tulsa publicly exposed the training. The two LGBTQ sessions were part of a larger professional development training called ELEVATE. The sessions about LGBTQ were offered as live sessions only and were not to be recorded. The other 26 sessions were pre-recorded content made available online for 90 days. All sessions except those about LGBTQ were pre-recorded and posted online. During the planning of ELEVATE, someone made a conscious decision to hide LGBTQ training sessions from the public.

An Owasso middle school teacher named Tyler Wrynn posted a video of himself saying, “If your parents don’t accept you for who you are, fuck them. I’m your parents now.” This was only one of many videos Wrynn posted, and some of his videos were made from his classroom.  Months after the video went public, Wrynn was terminated or placed on administrative leave, according to a post made by Wrynn on Facebook.

In Jenks 5th and 6th graders were given articles that were distributed to students using google documents. The documents were distributed as part of a class assignment and included content about LGBTQ+ and sexualism. People can learn more about this incident by watching this episode of UnWokable.

A first-grade teacher from Norman, Oklahoma posted on Instagram about using controversial books in her elementary classroom. In July of 2022, her post was shared by Libs of TikTok. In September of 2021, this same teacher posted about displaying the Pride flag in her classroom and wrote “I will fight anyone who takes issues with me showing visual support and love for students…even other adults in our building!”

Some classroom teachers purchase books for their classrooms and some receive book donations by creating a Donors Choose account. According to “missmstagram’s” Donors Choose account, she has received anonymous donations to help build her classroom library over the years.

In Stillwater, parents, grandparents, administrators, politicians, students, and OSU officials clashed over bathroom policies for transgender students in Stillwater Public Schools. In March, concerned parents spoke out about the bathroom policies.

“The school was offering a gender-neutral bathroom for non-binary students, and I think that's a great option and that should remain the policy,” Aslop said. “Currently, those bathrooms are now not enforced to be used for children that identify as another gender.”

During the April Stillwater School board meeting, parents spoke out again and one man, Brice Chaffin, was removed from the meeting and has since filed a lawsuit against Stillwater public schools. During the meeting, Irissa Baxter-Luperfrom OSU, and a student who serves as president of Oklahoma State Queers and Allies (OSQ&A) spoke about transgender bathrooms. Jenn Sanders from the College of Education and Human Sciences attended the school board meeting. All three carried signs with “No Hate in Stillwater” and “Trans Youth are our Future,” which they held up or waved when parents and grandparents voiced concerns about boys using girls' bathrooms.

While Stillwater Schools made national news for the meeting, OSU appears to have escaped with little public criticism for its representation at the meeting, with the exception of a parent group that posted on social media about OSU professors heckling parents. 

In June, Tulsa was the first school district in Oklahoma to be accused of violating HB 1775. The bill was signed into law in 2021 and prohibits teaching that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.” HB 1775 also prohibits teaching that an “individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.” Oklahoma Secretary of Education Ryan Walters spoke about the Tulsa violation during this episode of The UnWokable Podcast.  Walters also spoke about the transgender bathroom issues in Stillwater, and concerns about university colleges of education training future classroom teachers to push critical theory ideology into k-12 classrooms.

There are several factors contributing to these problems and most of those factors were created or intensified by the cultural elite. The next segment of this series will discuss the cultural elite and their unwavering mission to force their far-left political agenda and Identity Marxism, including queer theory, onto children and into public schools.