Lake County Gazette

Monika Piatek is one of a growing number of critics speaking out to their neighbors against legislation that would require gender expression and sexual orientation be taught in kindergarten. 

The Riverwoods resident is advocating against mandatory sexual education in schools. 

“It was signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker and became law on August 20, 2021, despite the hue and cry of parents and grandparents throughout the state. Now, any public school that offers health and safety classes now must teach left-wing sexuality classes to impressionable young students,” Piatek said on Facebook. “The only small bit of good news in the law was that schools had the choice to opt out. Because 70 percent of school districts have chosen to opt out of these new destructive standards, State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) – the sponsor of last year’s bill – has just filed new legislation to mandate public schools teach this leftist material next school year with no opt-out permitted for any school!” 

She argued that, "What the bill’s sponsors don’t discuss is what criteria will be used to determine, for example, age-appropriateness, medical accuracy, completeness or who will establish those criteria. Of course, there is no mention of abstinence-only education in this bill.” Piatek notes the legislation "is anything but ‘culturally appropriate' for orthodox Jews, Christians, and Muslims, which makes it anything but ‘inclusive.’” 

“If passed, this bill will mandate the teaching of material that many families in Illinois consider deviant or inappropriate for their children. The bill’s sponsors falsely claim that the mandated content would be ‘age and developmentally appropriate,’ ‘medically accurate,’ ‘complete,’ ‘culturally appropriate,’ and ‘inclusive,"’ she said. "Starting in kindergarten, all schools must teach about sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and that means teaching leftists views of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression.” 

The Illinois Association of School Boards issued a “call to action” against HB 5188, which has also used bill number SB 2226. The IASB included an appeal to members to contact legislators to express a lack of support. 

“We need your help to stop the passage of HB 5188, as amended, which will MANDATE Illinois public schools to teach 'age appropriate' sex education beginning in kindergarten,” the IASB said in its alert. “PLEASE ACT NOW to contact your State Senator to encourage them to VOTE NO on House Bill 5188, as amended. The full language of the amendment can be found on the General Assembly Website.” 

IASB encourages the community to call their Senators directly. The group also warned that, "State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) posted an amendment to HB 5188 that would require sex ed to be taught in kindergarten through grade 12 in Illinois schools." The group announced it "has worked in good faith with stakeholders on sex ed standards and curriculum for several years. Previous sex ed bills focused on content of curriculum while still preserving local control around the decision to offer sex ed to all students. HB 5188 removes that local option and MANDATES the national sex ed curriculum standards for all schools.” 

Awake Illinois previously shared a press release describing the bill and its effects. According to the resource, "public schools must provide age and developmentally appropriate consent education from kindergarten through 12th grades,” no later than July 1. The courses must incorporate and align with the "National Sex Education Standards" published by the Future of Sex Education. 

The advocacy group also explained that "These standards call for: 2nd graders to be able to define consent, define gender identity and stereotypes, define reproduction, and identify different types of families, including cohabitating and same gender; 5th graders to be able to describe the potential role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender, distinguish between 'sex assigned at birth and gender identity,' define and explain differences between cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender identity, explain that gender expression and identity exist along a spectrum; 8th graders to be able to define sexual identity and explain a range of identities related to sexual orientation (e.g., heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual, pansexual); they should also be able to define vaginal, oral, and anal sex; describe pregnancy options, including abortion; All pregnant young people to have decision-making power in their reproductive health decisions; The use of a student's self-selected pronouns; They also specify that no one, other than the individual, is 'qualified to label or judge another person's sexual identity, including their sexual orientation or gender identity.'" 

The bill is perceived as a segue to mandating the sexual education standards included in SB 818 signed into law last year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. That law, unlike this one, allowed school districts to opt out. SB 818 law requires children as young as 8 to be taught sex ed. The law was billed as a form to standardize state and federal sexual education standards. 

State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) has recommended conservatives run for local school boards in order to take back control of the reigns of education, according to Macon Reporter.