SF Bay Area School Permits Queer Straight Alliance to Bully Students

Lafayette, CA–A school district already in hot water for its controversial sex ed program has further infuriated parents by singling out and shaming students who don’t subscribe to politically correct views on gay issues.

Attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute sent a demand letter to attorneys for Acalanes High School late Wednesday over incidents last week where students were singled out and ostracized for their beliefs.  Students reported that, on Jan. 29, members of the school’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) took over all freshmen English classes to grill students about their beliefs and their parents’ beliefs on LGBT issues.  The QSA had students step forward to demonstrate whether they believed that being gay was a choice and whether their parents would be accepting if they came out as gay.  Students who did not step forward were ridiculed and humiliated.  The QSA also gave students a handout of LGBT terminology such as “pan-sexual,” “demi-sexual,” “gray gender,” and about a dozen other terms.  The QSA also had students line up to demonstrate where they fell on the “gender spectrum.”

PJI believes the school exercise violated federal and state laws requiring parental notice and permission before students are questioned about personal or family beliefs on sexuality or morality.  PJI further explained that the school’s actions violated the students’ constitutional privacy rights.  The letter demands that the school immediately cease the interrogations and suspend the QSA.  The letter also demands all public records associated with the events of Jan. 29, including e-mails from school officials who approved it.

“Singling out students for ridicule based on their moral or political beliefs is a Marxist tactic that should have no place in the United States of America,” noted Brad Dacus, the president of PJI.  “We’re not going to put up with this intimidation and interrogation of students, and it’s also time for other community members to join PJI and the parents we represent in speaking out against the outrages happening in their school district.”

Over the past few months, this same school and district have come under fire for allowing a “pleasure activist” from Planned Parenthood to teach sex education.  Documents previously publicized by PJI show that the instructors encouraged freshmen high schoolers to ask each other questions like, “Can I take your shirt off?” and “Is it okay if I take my pants off?”  A sex checklist given to the freshmen also suggested they were “ready” for sex when they would not feel guilty about it and knew how to use lubricants.  Parents later learned that one of the Planned Parenthood instructors at the high school also leads “pleasure workshops” for a local sex toy store. 

“Acalanes High School and the District have defied common sense, ignored the law and broken parents’ trust,” said PJI Attorney Matthew McReynolds, who sent the letter on Wednesday.  “These administrators are acting like schoolyard bullies.  If they think intimidation is going to work on us or these parents, they are greatly mistaken.”

Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit legal organization dedicated to defending religious, parental, and other constitutional rights.