North Cook News

State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) is reminding parents that the state is set to unveil a new sexual education curriculum in 2022 that aligns with federal standards.

"The sex-ed bill became law last year, and it goes into effect this year. And so I think there's going to be a lot more school districts and parents that need to be aware that the sort of curriculum and content is coming down the pike," Morrison told North Cook News. 

SB 818 was signed into law last year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The law requires children as young as eight to be subjected to lessons on sexual education. The law was billed as a way to standardize state and federal sexual education standards, Effingham Radio reported.

Morrison’s reminder of the bill comes as high profile cases of questionable sex-ed curricula have been highlighted in state schools, according to the Will County Gazette. Teachers at a Brooks Middle School in Bolingbrook are being briefed on how to be more "pro LGBT," with requests that they employ "LGBT adult role models" and rainbow flags with the words "gay pride" are displayed on their desks. They are also being told to address their students as “kids,” “class,” or “scholars,” instead of “boys and girls.”

Evanston-Skokie School District 65 has implemented a "radical gender curriculum" for pre-K through third grade. Its curriculum has been dubbed radical because it promotes teaching young children about transgenderism and LGBT lifestyles, North Cook News reported. The lessons include identification of their sexuality by selecting a color from a rainbow flag. In that curriculum, sexual education and gender indignity are taught to 4-year-olds and transgender identity is being learned by 5-year-olds. First graders are told to use the pronouns "she," "tree," "they," "he," "her," "him," "them," "ze," and "zir." Additionally, the curriculum also includes teaching students that white Europeans imposed a "Western and Christian ideological framework" on minorities. 

Recently, Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo discussed the "radical gender curriculum" in City Journal. He also tweeted that "Queer theory has made its way into public school curriculums for children as young as four." Rufo further wrote that, "This development should be subject to robust political debate, not denial and dismissal from the political left."