Missouri MassResistance Call To Action: Stop Kansas City Reparative Therapy Ban

From: Arthur Schaper, National Organization Director

Dear Missouri MassResistance:

We are sending this email to our readers and supporters in the Kansas City area. In the city of Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas is proposing a city-wide ordinance to ban reparative therapy for minors.

This is very disturbing .If you are not informed about this therapy already, this therapy saves lives. It helps people who are struggling with homosexuality and transgenderism so that they can break out of those behaviors.

Of course, the LGBT lobby wants to ban this therapy as much as possible, because their whole agenda is based on this lie that people are “born that way”, and therefore they do not need to change, and no should try to change them.

The bill is being introduced today (October 24) and it will proceed further next week. So time is very short.

Your help is needed to stop this! Please contact the city council and the mayor of Kansas City and tell them NOT to ban reparative therapy. (See contact information below.)

Here are key talking points to include in your email or your phone call to the city council and mayor:

1.       It’s “reparative therapy”, not “conversion therapy” – we are talking about a therapy which restores life and well-being to individuals, not a process for converting someone from one static identity to another identity.

2.       Reparative therapy saves lives. Homosexuality, transgenderism, and other similar behaviors are inherently destructive, dangerous, and dysfunctional.

3.       The opponents of reparative therapy claim that the therapy involves physical harm or torture. Those accusations are total lies. Reparative therapy is a talking therapy, a cognitive-emotional therapy which helps individuals deal with deeper, underlining hurts and pains.

4.       The so-called expert organizations which debunk reparative therapy were all bullied or aggressively lobbied by LGBT ideologues. There is no scientific evidence which debunks reparative therapy or makes it out to be ineffective.

5.       Reparative therapy is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution: Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.

6.       Three federal cases have affirmed and defended reparative therapy practices, for minors as well as for adults:

a.       Vazzo v. Tampa (2019) – Struck down reparative therapy ban for minors in Tampa, Florida

b.       Schwartz v. The City of New York et al. (2019) – Lawsuit compelled the city council of New York City to repeal their comprehensive reparative therapy ban, both for adults and for minors, because the city realized that they could not win the case.

c.       NIFLA v. Becerra (2018) – Supreme Court case which struck down any limitations on professional speech as unconstitutional. The Majority Opinion, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, signaled very clearly that reparative therapy bans of any sort are unconstitutional and will not survive judicial scrutiny once challenged before the United States Supreme Court.

If the Kansas City city council passes any kind of reparative therapy ban, they are basically signaling that they want people to be harmed, to live in pain, or to die.

The city will also be inviting a number of costly lawsuits which the city will lose. In fact, the city could open itself up to further liability by attempting to ban a healthy, life-saving therapy.

If you have any questions – and especially if you can go and testify – please contact me:

Arthur Schaper, Organization Director

Email: arthur@massresistance.org

Phone: (781) 890-6001

The contact information for the Kansas City City Council is listed below:

KANSAS CITY MO CITY OFFICIALS

1. KANSAS CITY MAYOR  QUINTON LUCAS	MayorQ@kcmo.org	816-513-3600
2. COUNCILWOMAN (1st Dist) HEATHER HALL	heather.hall@kcmo.org	816-513-6505
3. COUNCILMAN (1st Dist) KEVIN O’NEILL	kevin.oneill@kcmo.org	816-513-6503
4. COUNCILMAN (2nd Dist)	amy.justis@kcmo.org	816-513-6509
DAN FOWLER	(legislative aide)
5. COUNCILWOMAN (2nd Dist) TERESA LOAR	teresa.loar@kcmo.org	816-513-6507
6. COUNCILWOMAN (3rd Dist) MELISSA ROBINSON	melissa.robinson@kcmo.org	816-513-6513
7. COUNCILMAN (3rd Dist) BRANDON ELLINGTON	brandon.ellington@kcmo.org	816-513-6511
8. COUNCILWOMAN (4th Dist) KATHERYN SHIELDS	katheryn.shields@kcmo.org	816-513-6515
9. COUNCILMAN (4th Dist) ERIC BUNCH	eric.bunch@kcmo.org	816-513-6517
10. COUNCILMAN (5th Dist)	keema.mccoy@kcmo.org	816-513-6519
LEE BARNES JR.	(legislative aide)
11. COUNCILWOMAN (5th Dist)	angela.pearson@kcmo.org	816-513-6521
RYANA PARKS-SHAW	(legislative aide)
12. COUNCILMAN (6th Dist)	fred.wickham@kcmo.org	816-513-6525
KEVIN MCMANUS (Mayor Pro Tem)	(legislative aide)
13. COUNCILWOMAN (6th Dist) ANDREA BOUGH	andrea.bough@kcmo.org 816-513-6523

Show Me State MassResistance Group Shows Winning Pro-Family Activism

MassResistance Missouri parents stand up to unhinged pro-abortion activists at school board meeting

Confronting campaign to ban successful abstinence program from schools

Collusion by liberal school officials with leftist activists

July 23, 2017

Parents gather outside of Parkway School Board meeting preparing for their "silent" rally in support of the school's Thrive abstinence program.

In most school systems across the country, the pro-abortion activist army is able to get their way by steamrolling and intimidating parents and leveraging their access and influence with friendly school officials. But as we recently reported, it’s not going to be so easy for them in Missouri.

Recently, MassResistance Missouri organized parents in a particularly shrewd way to confront a vicious campaign by Planned Parenthood and NARAL activists aiming to purge a successful abstinence program from a local district.

At the May 10 School Board meeting of the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis, nearly 50 parents showed up. They held very quiet, peaceful rally outside just before the meeting. Then during the meeting, they gave very calm but (painfully) truthful and uncompromising testimony before the Board.

The abortion activists reacted by screaming and becoming unhinged. The school board members also were shaken, causing them to reveal their collusion with the abortion activists.

So the meeting got disrupted, but the parents stayed calm and orderly! They made their point – and it forced everyone there to face what’s really happening.

Attacks on abstinence programs in the St. Louis area

Planned Parenthood and NARAL in Missouri are attempting to force local school districts in the greater St. Louis area to stop teaching “Thrive”, a longstanding and successful abstinence program that has been in some schools for nearly 20 years. Their well-organized campaign has targeted school boards in over a dozen districts (plus four charter schools).

MassResistance Missouri has been helping the parents in those districts organize and fight back. This is one of the nastiest battles we’ve ever seen.

In fact, Missouri state law requires abstinence to be the only type of “sex-ed” program taught in schools. Unfortunately, many school systems simply ignore that and teach whatever sex-ed the administrators prefer. But in the St. Louis Metro area, the Thrive program has been well-received by teachers and students alike.

The Parkway School district is targeted

The Parkway School District, although in a relatively conservative area, is an easy target. Thrive has been there for over 10 years and is well liked by parents and students. But the liberal (and quite arrogant) school officials, led by Superintendent Keith Marty and several School Board members, this past year also pushed throug an aggressive and intrusive sex-ed program that is widely disliked by parents.

Starting in October 2016, the pro-abortion forces – led by well-known local activist Sally Hunt – met privately with top school officials. Using the tactics employed in other districts, she aggressively “informed” them of alleged problems, pushing a litany of false and misleading “complaints” about the Thrive program.

Hunt had no problem getting meetings with Supt. Keith Marty, his staff members, and even School Board members – even though these same officials had repeatedly refused to meet with parents concerned with the district’s new comprehensive sexuality programs.

Pro-abortion activist Sally Hunt (center) poses with Parkway Superintendent Keith Marty (left) and School Board President Chris Jacob. (Jacob was subsequently defeated in his bid for re-election.)

The Thrive program gets “suspended”

Hunt’s efforts worked. In early March, Supt. Marty persuaded the Board suspend Thrive until he “reviews” the program. Tellingly, he cited the same concerns and descriptions that Hunt had used.

Thrive officials quickly got involved. They came to the March School Board meeting, along with an OB-GYN medical doctor and a university professor, to defend the program and completely refute all the false charges including that the Thrive information was “medically inaccurate.” But the Board largely ignored the Thrive advocates and told the Superintendent to continue his “review” and make the decision himself.

Fireworks at the May 10 Parkway Board Meeting

Parents across the district were very upset, however. At the May 10 School Board Meeting, nearly 50 parents organized by MassResistance Missouri came, including the national president of Eagle Forum, Ed Martin. Pro-abortion activists were also there in force.

The parents peacefully stood outside the building and held signs supporting the Thrive curriculum. They didn’t even engage in conversation with the leftist activists who approached them.

Eagle Forum president Ed Martin (in suit) came to join the parents' rally at the School Board meeting.

Here are signs from the rally that the pro-abortion activists said are "hate speech."

But the liberals quickly became very angry at the silent protesters. They screamed that the parents were engaging in “hate speech” (simply by holding up signs promoting Thrive) and they stormed inside and complained to Board members that there was a “fascist protest” outside the building.

Then the real fireworks began inside during the public comments period of the Board meeting. The pro-abortion activists had signed up early, and started with the most outrageous lies and nonsense about the protesting parents.

For example, during their “testimony” the pro-abortion activists told the Board:

• A Detroit-based militant group organized the parents’ rally.
• Thrive employees bring guns into the schools.
• The parents are a “hate group.”
• The rally was promoting a militant church-sponsored religious agenda that is “shame based towards women and medically inaccurate.”

They were loud, rude, and obnoxious. It was so absurd that even the Board members were clearly ignoring them.  

As the activists continued their rants, Superintendent Marty turned to two of the Board members. He didn’t realize his microphone was “live”. He whispered to them, “This is why we have to get out from under this,” and laughed nervously. (It was even caught on the video.)

When the parents got up to speak, the unhinged behavior by the leftists continued.

Here is an example:

Parent: “Women who have lots of partners pretty soon get sick with a lot of problems. Their immune system breaks down.”

Liberal interrupts, shouting: “You have to stop that hate speech now!”

Parent continues and finishes: “That's why we reverence women and their bodies …
Nobody celebrates their abortion. So why should be celebrating teaching people to have sex?”

Board Chairman: “OK. We're done. Thank you!”

Liberal shouts at Board chairman: “You're going to end on hate speech? You're not going to call it out?”

As this parent (right) was speaking before the School Board one of the pro-abortion activists in the audience suddenly screamed, "You have to stop that hate speech now!"

The real message was loud and clear to everyone: The leftist activists have no coherent argument, only their blatant lies and childish anger.

And it continued after the meeting. At 11:57 pm that evening, pro-abortion activist Susan Hunt posted this on social media:

[One of the pro-Thrive speakers] actually seems to believe the archaic, misogynistic things she said ... In case anyone is still unfamiliar, Thrive "Best Choice" is a religious-morality-based, abstinence-until-marriage, medically inaccurate, shame-based, fear-based, biased sex ed curriculum taught in public schools by individuals with no training or qualifications in medical science, health, human sexuality, or intimate relationships (and are not even required to be certified teachers).

This is the mentality of the people who want to teach sexuality to your young children.

The Superintendent announces his decision

On the last day of school, May 25, Superintendent Keith Marty sent an email to Parkway School District parents saying that his “review” was finished, and he had decided to completely discontinue using Thrive. Instead he said, they will use their own “licensed and certified health educators” to teach kids a [Parkway] “board approved” curriculum. (Of course, the Board’s recently approved a comprehensive sexuality program is the polar opposite of abstinence.)

But it’s not the end of this issue

On April 4, there was a momentous School Board election in the Parkway district. As we reported, a clear message was sent. The School Board Chairman, who was a strong supporter of the comprehensive sex-ed curriculum, was defeated for re-election. This was largely due to the efforts of MassResistance Missouri parents notifying citizens in the district of his anti-family stands.

Thrive is still popular, and the issue is not going away. At that May 10 meeting, the new Board members got a trial by fire, so to speak, of what they’re going to have to deal with: parents vs. crazed left-wing activists. If this new Board is smart, they’ll override their arrogant liberal Superintendent and his allies, and not make the same mistakes again.

We’ll keep you informed on this battle!

Missouri MassResistance Stands up to Abortion Industry

Pro-Abortion activists waging vicious campaign to remove successful abstinence program from St. Louis area schools. MassResistance Missouri helping parents fight back.

Battle now in over a dozen school districts

Hateful and unhinged attacks against sexual abstinence message

June 5, 2017

Pro-abortion activists demonstrating against the ThriVe abstinence program provider outside of a high school in suburban St. Louis.

Pro-abortion activists in Missouri affiliated with Planned Parenthood and NARAL have begun a vicious and unhinged campaign to force local school districts to stop teaching a longstanding and successful abstinence program. Over the last several months, the well-organized effort  has targeted school boards in over a dozen districts (plus four charter schools) in the St. Louis area. The activists are demonizing the group behind the abstinence program. All this has been aided by hostile, biased, and dishonest reporting by the local media.

MassResistance Missouri has been helping the parents fight back. They have confronted the issue directly at school board meetings, and have been organizing parents in several targeted districts. This is one of the nastiest battles we’ve ever seen.

The sex-ed curriculum that actually follows state law

The Best Choice curriculum, provided by the group ThriVe St. Louis, is a sex education program that has been in the public school system in the greater St. Louis area for over twenty years. Its focus is teaching abstinence as the best method of preventing pregnancy.

The "Best Choice" curriculum -- provided by ThriVe St. Louis.

Most people are unaware that the “comprehensive sexuality” programs such as the one recently implemented in the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis – which normalizes sexual behavior, homosexuality, and abortion – are technically against the law in Missouri. Because of its focus on abstinence, Best Choiceactually follows the state statutes regarding human sexuality curriculum in the schools.

Here’s what Missouri law says:

170.015. 1. Any course materials and instruction relating to human sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases shall be medically and factually accurate and shall:

(1) Present abstinence from sexual activity as the preferred choice of behavior in relation to all sexual activity for unmarried pupils because it is the only method that is one hundred percent effective in preventing pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and the emotional trauma associated with adolescent sexual activity, and advise students that teenage sexual activity places them at a higher risk of dropping out of school because of the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy …

Over the years, the Best Choice program has been used in several ways. Some schools use it as their only source for sex education taught by classroom teachers. Others have brought in Best Choice educators as guest speakers to enhance their own curriculum.

The reason that Best Choice has been used by schools for so long, according to parents, is that it has dramatically reduced pregnancy rates and is well-liked by teachers, students, and parents. It’s successful.

On the other hand, in comprehensive sexuality programs the concept of “abstinence” can become bizarre (reflecting the radical outlook of the education staffers who create them). For example, the original 7th-grade “comprehensive” program put together by the Parkway School district in suburban St. Louis advised children that they should consider “anal sex or oral sex” for their “pleasure” because it does not cause pregnancy. After MassResistance Missouri parents found this out and exposed it, the school backed off from it. But this reveals the mindset of the Left.

Lies, deceptions, intimidation, hysteria to remove Best Choice

So now the pro-abortion movement has decided to use whatever unsavory tactics it can to completely force Best Choice out of every school. They have organized and funded a vicious campaign of misinformation and hysteria and are bringing their activists into all the school districts in the St. Louis area that use Best Choice in part or in whole.

The pro-abortion activists have four main talking points when attacking Best Choice.

Claim #1. It is “shame-based.” The truth: This is how the Left characterizes telling kids the truth about the very real medical and psychological consequences of having multiple sexual partners, the risks of having an abortion, and the advantages of not being sexually active. Healthy warnings are faulted for supposedly inducing shame!

Claim #2. It is “medically inaccurate.”  The truth: The program discusses the failure rate of condoms and other forms of birth control, how birth control pills can affect the body, and the dangers and consequences of STDs. All of it is completely accurate and has been examined by non-affiliated physicians.

Claim #3. It is run by a Christian organization, and should not be allowed in a public school.  The truth: Yes, it is run by a Christian organization. But numerous state and federal laws make it illegal for schools to discriminate based on religious affiliation when choosing vendors. The program has a non-denominational moral undertone – which the Left despises – but not an overt Christian message.

Claim #4. Parents can’t examine the Best Choice curriculum. The truth: This is a strange complaint. The curriculum is posted on the ThriVe website. You have to register on the website, but then you can see it. In the past, parents had to make an appointment with their school to see it, but it wasn’t kept from them. (And as we know, it is “comprehensive sex-ed” curriculum details which are usually hidden from parents!)

Driven by hate and emotion

The most troubling thing that pro-life parents have found is the intense hatred and anti-Christian bigotry among the pro-abortion activists fighting the Best Choice program. It is not simply a disagreement over policy to them, but a deep emotional rage.

The point person for the campaign specifically targeting the schools is Sally Hunt, who is also a parent in the Parkway School System. She has been very public about her hatred for ThriVe and Best Choice, and about her leadership role in this effort. She’s spoken at School Board meetings, protested, appeared in many newspaper articles, been interviewed on TV, and produced YouTube videos on this issue. She is not shy about using terms such as “archaic, misogynistic, religious fundamentalist, fear-based, Christian fundamentalist.” She claims that her family is “sex-positive.”

She posts her extreme views on social media, for example:

This is the mindset of the people who want to decide what your children learn about sexuality. And unless good people fight back, they will have their way.

The battle began last November in one district, then expanded

Sally Hunt began the campaign in the Parkway School district around October 2016. Parkway had recently implemented its controversial comprehensive sexuality curriculum. But it has also been using Best Choices for at least a decade. Hunt quietly met with the top school officials with her “findings” and “complaints” about Best Choices. The school officials were very accommodating to her, from what we’ve found out.

In following month, at the November meeting of the Parkway School Board, Hunt began publicly attacking the Best Choices program.

By February, 2017, she was taking her battle to other school districts in addition to Parkway. Hunt had organized a sizeable group of pro-abortion activists from across the greater St. Louis area to pressure local school boards.

On the attack. At a Parkway Board meeting, Sally Hunt tells Fox2-TV: "Thrive has a religious and political agenda. Their agenda is not about health, it's not about medical science. That's not what drives them."

Their strategy was to have local pro-abortion parents file “complaints” to the school district, then show up en mass at the School Board meetings, attack the program and its originator, ThriVe, and demand very vocally and emotionally that Best Choices must be removed. In addition, Hunt got national left-wing groups to have their lawyers threaten them with “separation of church and state” lawsuits. In a few districts, this was immediately effective.

Also in February, NARAL began demonstrating outside of ThriVe’s offices.

NARAL's website announces its attack on ThriVe.

In March, the media blitz began. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a nasty article, followed soon after by others. There was obvious collaboration with Hunt’s group and NARAL.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 6: Christian anti-abortion group is providing sex ed at area public schools; parents and students wonder if that's a good idea

Fox2 TV news, March 8: Abstinence based sex-ed program shows deep divide in Parkway School District parents

MassResistance Missouri began fighting back. On their website, they exposed what was happening and who was behind it. They organized parents throughout the region to come to School Board meetings and confront the issue.

With materials from the pro-family think tank Missouri Advocates for Education Transparency and Accountability (AETA), MassResistance Missouri went district to district with a “Parent Manual and Toolkit” and gave two-hour presentations. Parents were shocked by what they heard.

In April, the St. Louis media covering this, including newspapers and radio, reacted to the effectiveness of the pro-life parents by changing their direction and attacking and attempting to demonize MassResistance Missouri. (We will have a report on that coming up.) It’s become a common tactic by the media. But the parents stood tall.

The battles continue

In the various districts there have been several cave-ins, a few victories, and many battles still continuing.

Some of the MassResistance Missouri signs.

In May, the Parkway Schools reversed their own policy that sex education wouldn’t be reviewed again until five years had passed, and announced (through a letter to parents) that Best Choices could no longer be invited in by individual teachers, as had been the case. The pro-life parents are not stopping, though. The following School Board meeting was the most contentious yet, eliciting an incredibly unhinged reaction by the pro-abortion activists. (We’ll have a report on that coming up, also!)

We are extremely proud of these MassResistance Missouri parents. They’re a really special group. They have bravely and unflinchingly faced unhinged hatred, intimidation, political corruption, and unmitigated lunacy – and still kept going without hesitation. They see the evil, and they have no intention of halting their resistance.

We have more on this coming up!

Success! Missouri MassResistance Defeats Pro-LBGT Sex-Ed School Board Member's Re-Election Bid

How parents got their pro-sex-ed School Board Chairman defeated at election time! Had been top vote-getter in last two elections. MassResistance Missouri Chapter makes a difference! May 28, 2017 School Board Chairman Chris Jacob announces that he refuses to have the Board re-vote on the controversial "comprehensive sexuality" curriculum -- to the cheers of LGBT activists in the audience. As a result of parent outrage, he was subsequently defeated in his bid for re-election to the Board. Politicians don't always take note if you help get someone elected. But they really notice if you help get someone defeated - especially when it's a prominent official! After nearly three years of bitter confrontation between a rabid pro-sex-ed School Board and outraged parents (led by our MassResistance Missouri chapter), Board Chairman Chris Jacob of the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis suffered a shocking defeat in his bid for re-election last month. In the April 4 election, there were eleven candidates running for three School Board seats. Jacob came in sixth with only 8.97% of the vote, and lost his seat on the Board. It was a huge defeat. In the 2014 election, Jacob had come in first with 23.7%, In 2011 he also came in first with 26.2%. The issue: A hardcore "comprehensive sexuality" curriculum Back in 2014, the Parkway School District staff began compiling a "comprehensive sexuality" curriculum for the entire K-12 student body. It immediately raised red flags among parents. Portions of it were announced that seemed very graphic and explicit, and were linked to radical sexuality and LGBT and abortion groups. However, the school officials were very hostile and uncooperative with the concerned parents who wanted more information about it. In particular, it became clear that the curriculum included fairly extensive abortion counseling for young girls. It is against Missouri law to include anything related to abortion in a school curriculum. The officials didn't seem to care. This really riled parents. After being stonewalled by school staff, parents began to question the Parkway School Board about the very disturbing things they were seeing in the curriculum. But they still did not get any answers. The parents were not subtle in their outrage. But the officials continued to ignore them.. School Board votes to implement entire curriculum - and refuses to re-consider Then on March 9, 2016, Parkway School Board shocked parents by voting to implement it in its entirely. Parents were outraged. Board Chairman Chris Jacob had originally opposed it, but soon after the vote he completely changed sides. He suddenly strongly supported it and became hostile to those who disagreed with it. But the parents refused to give up. A growing group of MassResistance-Missouri parents continued to come to the School Board meetings and bring up all of the troubling issues. The parents demanded a re-vote on the curriculum. But Chris Jacob and the other Board members refused to even meet with them to discuss it. Keeping up the pressure. Parents at Aug. 3 School Board meeting were demanding the resignation of Dr. Keith Marty, the Superintendent and the force behind the comprehensive sexuality program, unless the Board agreed to re-vote on it. However, by August, there were rumors that the Board might consider a re-vote. On Aug. 24, 2016, local LGBT activists came to the School Board meeting, clearly angry that a re-vote might happen. At the beginning of that meeting Chairman Chris Jacob placated them bu publicly announcing that the original vote would stand and the Board was not considering taking a re-vote on the comprehensive sexuality program. That was followed by a long period of loud clapping by the LGBT group. Since then, Jacob and the Board have refused to budge an inch. Adult LGBT activists came to the School Board meeting on Aug. 24 to intimidate the Board members into keeping the comprehensive sexuality curriculum in place -- and no re-voting. And the Board appeased them. Then came the School Board elections … The April 4, 2017, Parkway School Board election was a very heated contest. There were 11 candidates, including two incumbents, running for the three seats up for election. The liberal establishment, teachers' union, and sex-ed/LGBT/abortion lobbies all wanted to solidify their control of the school system. The sex-ed/LGBT/abortion lobby formed called "Parents Moving Parkway Forward." They endorsed three candidates, raised money, and organized to get them elected. The teachers' union also endorsed three candidates, including Jacob and the other incumbent. They did not want the pro-family people to gain anything. But that's not quite how things turned out! The sex-ed/LGBT/abortion lobby mailed this out, supporting their slate of candidates. The pro-family parents took a different approach But our side took a different approach. A parents group called Missouri Advocates for Education Transparency and Accountability (AETA), put together a simple but powerful "report card" on the school committee candidates. Some candidates got all A's. School Board Chairman Chris Jacob got a straight F rating. AETA did a mass mailing in the district. MassResistance-Missouri emailed the report card to their vast network of conservatives, went door-to-door in the district with it, and stood at polling places with it on election day. ABOVE: Grading the School Committee candidates, including incumbents. RIGHT: The report card also described the problems in the school system. The report card really resonated with voters! There was a lot of buzz about it throughout the district. It was clear and easy to understand. As one local parent said, "Without MassResistance-Missouri being a beacon of truth telling, parents in the district would not have been alerted to this." And here's what happened The April 4 election had the highest voter turnout in many years. When the smoke cleared, two of the three teachers' union candidates (including Jacob) were defeated. (The union-endorsed candidate who got elected was an incumbent who got a C.) Two of the three "Progress" candidates were defeated. More good news: The main candidate that the conservative parents were supporting (who got an A) was elected! And most important, the entire Board knows that if a former top vote-getter can go down in defeat over a parents-rights issue, any of them could be next! _______________________ Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work! Donate to MassResistance Your support will make the difference!

Missouri MassResistance Confronts Arrogant Pro-LGBT School Board Members

Parents signing Freedom of Information Act paperwork and letters to their School Board members, before going off to Board members houses.

Parents around the country: You can learn from this group!

It’s the classic playbook used by school boards pushing a graphic sexuality curriculum. When parents start demanding answers from Board members, they’re told to meet with unelected administrators who are experts at evading, confusing, and marginalizing. And they’re ignored when they testify at Board meetings. Eventually they get beaten down, intimidated, and defeated. We’ve seen this for decades.

But this time it’s not working. The troop of local parents from Missouri MassResistance knows the playbook -- and has a playbook of their own! This “sex-ed” battle is going to be different.

Over 50 parents showed up on Aug. 14 to take action!

Unanswered questions and withheld material

As we’ve reported, the seven-member School Board of the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis voted in March to implement one of the most radical and graphic LGBT-laced K-12 sexuality programs we’ve seen.

This curriculum was very frightening to many parents. They attended whatever “committee” meetings at the schools the administration had to discuss it. They voiced their concerns in the 3-minute testimonies they’re allowed at School Board meetings. They played by the rules.

But after a few months there were still lot of unanswered questions. How did these explicit and age-inappropriate subjects get selected – especially for the younger grades? Why are these graphic subjects even being taught to children? How would they teach these subjects? Why can’t parents see the teachers’ guides? Why can’t parents see the process the school used to create this curriculum? Why is the curriculum using material from Planned Parenthood and these particular LGBT groups? Exactly what would the “opt out” process be? These and  other questions were dodged or ignored. Moreover, parents received a lot of conflicting information.

The frustration grew. Before long, the parents group had grown to well over a hundred.

Hundreds of parents mailed cards like this to the Superintendent, Dr. Keith Marty. But it got no results. Obviously, the elected Board needed to be involved.

Repeatedly denied a meeting with Board members

Finally, at the beginning of June the parents asked if Board members would meet with a group of them to discuss the curriculum and get the information they seek. The vice-chairman of the Board emailed them back saying that the Board memberswould not meet with them. Instead, the parents were told they must meet with the Superintendent and his staff.

So they went back to that approach. But the Superintendent insisted he would only answer questions via email. But the answers that came back were insufficient and vague, the parents said.

The Superintendent finally agreed to meet with a small group of them -- not the larger group they requested -- on Aug. 2. But that Aug. 2 meeting was basically more obfuscation and disinformation, the parents later said, and was mostly a waste of time.

One shocking thing the parents did find out from the Aug. 2 meeting was that the Superintendent intends to expand this radical agenda to include “transgender” access in all bathrooms and locker rooms throughout the school district. Parents also began to see how the GSA “gay” clubs in each middle and high school feed into the bigger agenda. As the superintendent said that evening, “We know we have at least one identified transgender in every middle and high school in the district.”

So the parents went back to the Board members to ask for a meeting to address their questions. And they continued to get refused. “I have nothing new to share. I’m not going to meet with you,” the vice-chairman blatantly said, according to one parent. Another Board member repeatedly told a parent, “The other side is so loud and angry. You all are only mildly frustrated.”

The unmitigated arrogance of elected officials is alive and well in the “Show me” state!

Parents got the message, so: “OK, we’ll visit you then!”

Most parents start to give up at this point. But not this bunch. They were just getting started!

On August 14, two weeks after the Superintendent meeting, a group of 50 parents met at a Missouri MassResistance parent’s house. They had formally invited the Board members to the meeting also. But none of them came, even though several live fairly close.

At their Aug. 14 meeting, parents got the latest information about the issue from group leaders, signed paperwork and cards under the canopy, and got instructions about more activism that day!

The group leaders were ready for that. The first thing they had parents do was fill out a round of individual FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) paperwork, for the materials that the school was withholding from view. They also had parents write some notes to Board members expressing their outrage at being treated so badly. And after that they looked to the group leaders because they were ready to do more than just that!

One of the cards parents taped to the front doors of all seven Board members houses on Aug. 14 and later that week.

When invited to take the next step, a group of the parents drove to a few of the Board members’ homes. As about 15 stood out on the sidewalk, groups of two would walk up to knock on the door. Parent organizers had prepared them with tape, pre-written notes, and pens so they could sign the notes. When the door wasn’t answered, they would tape their notes to the front door. They made sure to be very polite and identify themselves as constituents if someone came to the door.

A group of about 15 parents stood in the street in front of the first Board member's house as groups of two took turns going to the front door, knocking, and leaving notes if nobody answered.

Notes taped to the front door of the first Board member's house.

The first Board member eventually came to the door, yelled at them to “go away,” and called the police. (The police saw nothing illegal, and left the parents alone.)

Next they went to the Board member vice-chairman’s house. He came right to the door, was very angry, and said, “This is distasteful. You need to go away,” and shut the door. So they taped the notes to the door and left.

A parent leaves the house of the vice-chairman of the Board after he came to the door and yelled at her.

After that, it was too dark to go to any more houses. By then, the other Board members had been told what was happening and most were seething about it. They even had police waiting at their house – in case any more of their constituents came by! Over the following week, several other parents came during the day and left notes on ALL Board members’ front doors – just to drive the point home some more.

Getting that angry at polite constituents reveals that these Board members know they’re in the wrong, and just want it to go away. But of course, that’s not going to happen. Our prediction: If the parents keep pushing hard, they can eventually win this.

If you can’t stand the heat . . .

Parkway School District is a fairly affluent, relatively conservative area, where the people are pretty low-key and not prone to confrontations.  But there’s something about arrogant elected officials who refuse to meet with constituents over something as horrific as this, that gets peoples’ blood moving.

At this point, parents are no longer interested in whether their elected officials are getting upset. They’re upset. No one forced these Board members to run for office. As Missouri native Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”  And the parents aren’t being intimidated or defeated by the tired old left-wing tactics.

In fact several parents have said, "The more you try to discourage one of us, five more parents pop up ready to engage." These parents started out like so many do: Believing that their school principals and upper administration had their children's best in mind. As they've engaged, they've seen what’s really happening, matured, and become bolder.

In some ways, these School Board members are lucky. In Revolutionary War times, public officials got tarred and feathered for a lot less. 

This Aug. 14 episode isn’t all there is to report! Part 3 is of this series is coming up.