CDC announces new disease: conservatism

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is promoting its latest resource: an LGBT inclusivity self-assessment for educators. But what disease does it target?

Released through CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), the resource’s purpose is “to assist schools and districts in addressing the health and academic needs of LGBTQ students.”

School administrators: Our LGBTQ inclusivity self-assessment tool can help you quickly gauge inclusivity at your school. See your score today and learn ways to increase inclusivity: https://t.co/mXgPtVtg24 pic.twitter.com/R2cWbynZ1n

— CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (@CDC_DASH) December 27, 2022

It offers a generic self-assessment, as well as tailored versions for administrators, educators, and student health services staff.

The evaluation ranks its users from minimally inclusive to highly inclusive based on their agreement to a series of statements which advocate the following:

• Not assuming a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation 
• Using gender neutral or inclusive terminology 
• Correcting others who use incorrect or harmful terminology 
• Advocating for LGBTQ materials in all environments 
• Participating in Gay Straight Alliance/Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) 
• Allowing students to use bathrooms corresponding with their chosen gender identity 
• Displaying LBGTQ-affirming symbols – such as rainbow flags – in various spaces 
• Teaching a range of gender identities and sexual orientations 
• Presenting information about all types of sex acts, beyond traditional, heterosexual sex 
• Describing anatomy and physiology without gendered language 

The announcement drew criticism on Twitter, with critics accusing the CDC of overstepping its field and pushing a progressive agenda. 

The CDC’s purported mission is to protect public health and “help families, businesses, and communities fight disease.”  

Similarly, DASH’s purpose is to support “HIV, STD, and unintended pregnancy prevention efforts in the nation’s schools.”  

At best, the connections between LGBT-inclusivity and disease prevention are tenuous and artificial – unless the disease in question is conservative values. In that case, the CDC is certainly doing its part to eradicate it.