Lake County Gazette

Marsha McClary is one of the many critics lining up against comprehensive mandatory sexual education being pushed in the Illinois House. 

McClary is a strategist, life planner, and mother who lives in Lake County. 

“Remember Illinois SB818 and how so many of us lobbied your school districts to opt-out?” McClary said on Facebook. “It included teaching some very radical and inappropriate topics (see photos posted of the standards & link to full standards also below). Illinois has a new bill on the table House Bill 5188 adding these same radical sex ed standards to all Illinois schools.” Sure, some ideas in this are good, but by retaining local control & opposing a mandate your our/your district can decide which topics to teach excluding the extremes. This bill may be voted on in the Illinois Senate at next session beginning tomorrow night. IASB (Illinois Association of School Boards) also sent a letter opposing it encouraging leaders to oppose. 

McClary listed sample voice messages including “1) Vote “NO” to this bill and support districts retaining local curriculum control 2) Over 70% of schools already opted out of this so majority of Illinois has already spoken. If you vote for this you are the minority and will not be supported. 3) Do not ever bring legislation like this again to infuse radical policies into schools. Let schools be a safe place teaching core curriculum and let teachers do their job without government distractions.” 

"CALL NOW (yes Sunday morning) as many of the below Senators as you can at their Springfield office," McClary said. She also posted a link to the Illinois Association of School Boards' (IASB) “call to action.”

IASB issued a “call to action” against HB 5188, which has also used bill number SB 2226. The association included an appeal to members to contact legislators to express a lack of support. IASB underscored it needs "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.” It has strongly suggested to “ACT NOW" and contact State Senators "to encourage them to VOTE NO on House Bill 5188, as amended." 

Directing the community to learn more about the full language of the amendment that can be found on the General Assembly Website, the IASB said “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. IASB 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, an advocacy group that described the legislation as the “groomer bill.” previously shared a one-pager 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 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 means to mandate 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 eight to be subjected to lessons on sexual education.  The law was billed as a form to standardize state and federal sexual education standards. 

Due to education in the state trending left and poor results in such highly politicized environments, 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.