‘Neopronouns’ and ‘gender euphoria’: Colorado school district trained teachers on the ‘ABCs of LGBTQIA+’

(Daily Caller) – A Colorado school district taught teachers about deadnaming and gender euphoria in a teacher training titled the “ABCs of LGBTQIA,” according to documents made public by Parents Defending Education, a parental rights organization.

Poudre School District offered eight “ABCs of LGBTQIA” professional development trainings through the 2021-2022 school year to educate teachers on the “do’s & don’ts with language around trans identity” and “the importance of pronouns & explanation of they/them and neo pronouns,” according to Parents Defending Education. Silen Wellington, a self-described “genderqueer shapeshifter” performed the teacher trainings.

“Parents don’t want gender ideology in their kids’ schools, period,” Alex Nester, investigative fellow for Parents Defending Education, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Instructing teachers about gender identity issues—and incorporating such lessons in their classrooms—is a slap in the face to parents. Children are struggling to make up learning loss caused by drastic school closures during the pandemic. School administrators should help students meet benchmarks in reading and math—not question their identities as young men and women.”

Through the trainings, staff was taught “about respectful language and inclusion for students” to promote “school culture equity practices,” the training outlines stated. Educators learned about different ways to be “inclusive of non-heterosexual orientations” and the difference between gender identity and biological sex.

Teachers were taught the definition of gender dysphoria, gender euphoria, deadname, transitioning, intersex, asexual, aromantic, two-spirit, queer and nonbinary, the training documents stated. Teachers learned to be a trusted adult for LGBTQ students and “how to respond when someone comes out to you.”

The outline suggests that the training additionally touches on “trans-inclusive workplace policies” and “gender inclusive intake forms,” the documents showed.

The school district also offered additional trainings on “culturally sustaining pedagogy” which taught teachers that “the path to equity requires direct confrontations with inequity” including “interpersonal, institutional, cultural and structural racism and other forms of oppression,” the documents stated.

In the training teachers were taught that “traditional punitive discipline can be about power” and lead to a “win/lose dynamic,” the documents stated.

Poudre School District did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.