In 2021, after receiving much opposition, IL Rep. Katie Stuart D-112 voted in favor of and sponsoredSB818. SB818 aligns IL public school sex education curriculum with theNational Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) standards. Katie did not hold a forum to discuss these standards with parents prior to voting on them.
IL legislators wrote SB818 that mandates IL Public schools to either align with the Nat’l Sex Ed standards OR not teach sex education at all. At this time, schools are allowed to “opt out.” Some community activists in favor of CSE have said that the standards are “guidance” for schools. This is incorrect. SB818 is very clear that IL Sex Education must align with the Nat’l Comprehensive Sex Education Standards or “Opt Out.” SB818 also allows schools to hire outside organizations to teach the standards. Planned Parenthood is one such organization that has offered to teach the standards. (The legislation does not explain if schools are mandated to vet the organizations coming into the schools. It is uncertain if they will have to undergo background checks to verify they are safe to be around children).
While almost all parents agree that sex education should be taught in schools, many believe that the standards and curriculum is simply too graphic and not age appropriate for children. It is important to note that as of 4/2023, 70% of schools in IL opted out of teaching this curriculum.
As you look through the standards, think about how uncomfortable children (and their teachers) will be having to discuss this in front of their classmates. Not only are these standards not age appropriate, they have a trigger warning at the bottom. This means that these topics could trigger trauma for children who have been past sexual abuse victims or are currently being abused.
The following pictures are just some of the particularly troublesome aspects of the standards taken directly from the Nat’l Sex Ed standards. Red arrows and typed commentary were added for additional context.
Grades K-2nd: 5-8 yr olds
Grades 3rd-5th: 8-11 yr olds
Grades 6th-8th: 11-14 yr olds
The YouTube video posted below was uploaded to YouTube on 5/30/2023.
While I am unable to verify if the video was taken in a High School (as claimed), I can tell you this is what could be taught in IL schools.
If a school district decides NOT to “opt out,” a teacher or outside source would teach the Comprehensive Sex Education Curriculum.
The teacher in this video talks about sex toys but is unable to say the word “anus.” Instead she calls the anus a “booty hole.”
Warning, Subject Matter is graphic.
Play Video
Who developed the Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE)?
“FoSE, a collaboration of Advocates for Youth, Answer, and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change seeks to create a national dialogue about the future of sex education and to promote the institutionalization of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.”
Siecus: Sex Education for Social Change
Advocates for Youth: Promotes Sex Education for Social Justice
Answer Sex Ed Honestly: they want to revolutionize sex education
How did the Standards get developed?
IL legislators constantly talked about the 3 decades of research that was done to develop CSE (Comprehensive Sex Education).
If we unwrap the research, the developers of CSE would quote the following article:
“Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education,”
Eva S. Goldfarb, Ph.D. and Lisa D. Lieberman, Ph.D. examined studies from over three decades of research on sex education and found “evidence for the effectiveness of approaches that address a broad definition of sexual health and take positive, affirming, inclusive approaches to human sexuality.”
“Evidence and Research based” Sex Education.
3 decades of research.
Pre-K: 3 articles reviewed
Kindergarten: 4 articles reviewed
1st grade: 4 articles reviewed
2nd grade- 6 articles reviewed
3rd grade- 9 articles reviewed
4th grade-13 articles reviewed
6th grade and up- there are 62 articles.
“Research based, science based standards” for Pre-K to 5th grade with very little research.
SIECUS, ANSWER, Advocates for Youth, Dr. Goldfarb worked together to form CSE:
SIECUS sites Dr. Goldfarb for their research based approach. And in turn, Dr. GoldFarb sites SIECUS.
Where did ANSWER, Advocates for Youth and SIECUS get their evidence based, science based information?…
From Dr. Goldfarb and Lisa Lieberman’s paper review
Why are the IL Legislatures pushing CSE?
On January 5th, 2023, Senator Ram Villivalam added amendment 1 to a shell bill. HB5188 Amendment 1 MANDATES ALL PUBLIC Schools teach the Comprehensive Sex Education Standards. The bill did NOT pass, but the question came up as to why IL legislators would try to push this legislation if 70% of schools opted out.
The developers (SIECUS) are pushing it. And lobbyists in turn, donate big money to our Democrat legislators.
Pictures are taken from SIECUS: 2023 State of Sex Education Legislative Look-Ahead Updated January 2023
1st approach: the “if/then” approach. If schools teach sex education, then they MUST align the standards with the national standards. Sound familiar? This is the policy in Illinois right now.
2nd approach: If schools opt out, the second approach is a MANDATE. This also should sound familiar as we had an IL Senator try to mandate this. Remember, 70% of schools opted out after parents stood up against this curriculum.
If schools opt out, then SIECUS wants it mandated. Like a dictatorship.
Who are the Contributors, Reviews and Endorsing Organizations?
Many of the contributors and developers of CSE describe minor children as “young people.”
Sex Education is a big money maker. From the developers to the contributors, they have a lot of money to gain from pushing this. As do the legislators who pass the legislation.
I just wish parents, would have had more say on instituting this curriculum.
It's sad but, Lobbyists have more power with IL Legislators than the Parents.