A 7th grade teacher in Albany, NY was suspended handing out literature containing graphic photos about transgender identity and sex change operations.
The literature was distributed to 7th and 10th grade students by health teacher Jacqueline Hall at Cambridge Central School in North Albany. She was suspended indefinitely with pay after one parent complained on Friday.
“Genital reconstruction surgery. Is that really something an 11-year-old kid should be learning and knowing about? No. I don’t think so,” said parent Sirell Fiel in a Facebook video.
As of Monday morning, the video had been viewed over 785,000 times.
The teacher was suspended after Fiel complained that his 11-year-old son brought home a packet of graphic information relating to transgender sex change surgery.
“It should not be allowed or tolerated. Period. It’s not your right to take the innocence of my kid like that at that age,” Fiel told WRGB-TV.
The trouble began when Hall invited a member of an LGBT group to talk to her 7th grade and 10th grade students.
The speaker brought a four-page handout that listed LGBT terminology, according to Fox News. The LGBT speaker instructed students to match LGBT terminology to their definitions.
The teacher also gave a more extensively detailed 42-page handout to 7th grade students. But that handout was intended for the 10th grade students.
The paper reported Friday that the high school principal knew about the speaker but had not reviewed any of the literature.
Fiel said the literature clashed with his Christian values and he preferred that the school leave such education to parents.
“I have no problem with the school talking about diversity,” he told the paper. “Gay kids are out there, and the kids need to know about it. But the problem I have is that it went so in-depth. That’s too much for 11- and 12-year-olds.”
The LGBT group member was scheduled to return to the school on Tuesday, but the principal canceled the invitation.
